Police in Texas on Monday arrested and charged the driver of an SUV that slammed into a crowd of migrants at a bus stop in Brownsville, killing 8 and injuring 10.
George Alvarez has been charged with eight counts of manslaughter and 10 counts of aggravated assault, but police are still trying to determine whether he intentionally crashed into the group gathered outside of a migrant centre.
For now, police said they were treating the incident as an accident, but a witness said the driver of the luxury SUV had yelled insults at the group before accelerating.
Brownsville police investigator Martin Sandoval said officers did not know whether the incident was intentional.
“We're looking [into it],” he said.
Victor Maldonado, director of the Ozanam Centre, a homeless shelter across the street from the bus stop, said the Range Rover ran up the kerb, flipped and continued moving for about 60 metres, AP reported.
Some people walking on the pavement about 9 metres from the main group were also hit, Mr Maldonado said.
Witnesses detained the driver as he tried to run away and held him until police arrived, he said.
The grey vehicle “went through a red light and ran over several people” about 8.30am in Brownsville, a border city at the southernmost tip of the state, Mr Sandoval said.
Witness Luis Herrera, 36, from Venezuela, who was injured in the incident, said: “A woman went by in a car and warned us to get out of the way.
“It was a matter of moments. The killer came in the car, gesturing at us, insulting us.”
Mr Herrera said the car had then accelerated with full force.
Witnesses 'shocked'
The victims were among a crowd of about 25 waiting at the bus stop, Mr Maldonado said.
The group, all of whose members were Venezuelan, had just had breakfast at the centre.
Witnesses were “really shocked”, Mr Maldonado said.
“It was pretty intense.”
The homeless centre is open 24 hours a day, Mr Maldonado said, as “we've been housing individuals coming from Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, China, Ukraine and multiple Venezuelans”.
Brownsville, which borders Matamoros, Mexico, is a popular stop with migrants entering into the US.
The city has seen an influx of migrants crossing in recent weeks, which prompted city officials to declare a state of emergency last week.
Felicia Rangel-Samponaro, who lives in the city and works with migrant communities across the border, said the recent increase in migrants entering the US comes after several incidents in the encampments in Mexico.
Many migrants fleeing from gang and cartel violence in their own countries. Even when they do find shelter, they are not always safe: a fire at a migrant centre in Ciudad Juarez in late March killed almost 40 people.
“People are fleeing for their lives,” she said.
Ms Rangel-Samponaro said she and her colleagues in Mexico were trying to help track down family members of the victims.
“We are looking for any family members they still may have inside of the Matamoros encampment,” she told The National.
The news of the tragedy comes as authorities prepare for the lifting on Thursday of a Donald Trump-era federal policy that allows border patrol officers to deport or turn away migrants without accepting their asylum applications.
The looming expiration of the rule known as Title 42 has authorities fearing a surge in undocumented migrants entering the US.
It also comes a day after a gunman killed at least eight people at a shopping mall, also in Texas, in the latest mass shooting to rock the country.
Agencies contributed to this report
