Footage shows a speeding Range Rover hurtling toward a crowd outside the Texas migrant center
Shocking video footage shows the moment an SUV drove into a crowded bus stop in a Texas border town, killing several people.
The clip, recorded early Sunday, was released by a local congressman just hours after the crash — with the driver now in custody and the death toll now at eight.
The clip begins seconds before the moment of impact – with a group of at least 17 people waiting at the stop outside a shelter that housed homeless migrants.
Several sit on the curb in front of the stop, while several stand and exchange pleasantries as they presumably wait for a bus.
Suddenly the nameless motorist comes into view and races towards the group at frightening speeds. The footage then shows the crowd being completely wiped out by the two-and-a-half-ton vehicle, which police said ran a red light.
It is not known Monday morning whether the strike was intentional, but witnesses who survived the strike claimed the driver, identified by police as an “uncooperative” Hispanic man, hurled profanity at the group as he ran towards them.
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Shocking video footage shows the moment an SUV drove into a busy bus stop in a Texas border town, killing eight people and injuring several
Police arrested the suspect driving the car, but have not yet named him. He “did not cooperate” with the detectives, police said on Sunday as they continued the investigation
“A woman in a white car came by and told us to move, and another car behind her came at us at full speed and yelled swear words at us,” the unnamed man who stood at the bus stop but survived told CBS News, in an interview translated from Spanish.
He added that it was the second car that “ran us over.”
It’s unclear from the newly released footage to confirm the man’s story – though the shot fragment shows a white car driving a few feet in front of the suspect’s car, in the adjacent lane.
People’s suspicions that the strike was premeditated are compounded by the fact that it happened three days before a Trump-era immigration restriction that made it more difficult for migrants to seek asylum in the US expires.
Titled Title 42, the pandemic-era policy enabled border patrol agents to quickly return migrants to their home countries — something especially relevant to residents of the South Texas city, which is 95 percent Hispanic and Latino.
Located less than two miles from the Mexican border, the city will see an increase in immigration in the coming weeks, once Trump-era restrictions are lifted.
However, police in the border town have not said the crash was intentional, with a spokesman for the Brownsville Police Department confirming only that the suspect – who was filmed being arrested shirtless after the incident – was Hispanic.
The Ozanam Center is a homeless shelter that serves individuals and families in the area — and because it’s right on the U.S.-Mexico border, many of its clients are migrants.
Shelter director Victor Maldonado said the center has not received any threats in the past, although it has started working in the aftermath of the crash.
“I had some people come by the gate and tell the guard that the reason this happened was because of us,” he said.
Maldonado added that most of the men beaten were Venezuelan men – though it’s unclear how many of the victims were migrants.
The Ozanam Center is a homeless shelter that serves individuals and families in the area — and because it’s right on the U.S.-Mexico border, many of its clients are migrants
The crash comes as the city of Brownsville deals with an influx of migrants.
Last month, the city issued a disaster declaration after 15,000 migrants — mostly from Venezuela — crossed in one week, overwhelming border surveillance.
In a typical week, only about 2,000 migrants attempt to cross the border at Brownsville.
Tensions flared last month during the upswing in migration, when some tents housing the immigrants were set on fire and destroyed.
Some migrants blamed cartel-backed gangs, but a government official suggested the fires may have been started by a group of frustrated migrants.
The situation could also get worse over the next week, with Title 42 ending on Thursday.
COVID-era policies allowed border agents to return migrants to Mexico.