Police in the US city of Brownsville, Texas, on the border with Mexico, charged Monday with manslaughter of a man who drove his vehicle into a crowd, killing at least eight people, among them several Venezuelan immigrants.

George Alvarez, 34, ran a red light and lost control of his car on Sunday, when he ran over a group of people waiting at a bus stop outside a migrant shelter, Brownsville Police Chief Félix Sauceda explained.

The incident left at least eight people dead and ten injured, some in critical condition. The police chief indicated that authorities were still waiting for a toxicology report on Álvarez and did not rule out any motive for the incident.

“George Alvarez is a Brownsville resident with an extensive criminal recordhe said when showing the detainee’s list of previous charges, including assault, robbery and drunk driving. Authorities initially considered the incident as accidental, although a witness told AFP the driver shouted insults at the group before accelerating.

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Several of the deceased were migrants and they are working with border guards to verify their entry into the United States.

The incident came as the United States government prepares to lift a health measure known as Title 42, which has allowed Border Patrol agents to deport or deport migrants due to the Covid-19 pandemic. without even accepting their asylum applications.

The expiration of this rule this Thursday has authorities fearing an increase in the number of migrants entering the southern United States illegally. The presidents of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and of the United States, Joe Biden, will discuss the migration crisis via video call on Tuesday, the Mexican president announced on Monday.

The government of the president Nicolás Maduro asked to “examine the facts thoroughly and clarify their causes, to exclude any intention related to practices of hatred and xenophobia”.

For his part, Brownsville Bishop Daniel Flores said in a statement that the deceased were “immigrant men from Venezuela” and urged “to oppose the undermining trend of devaluing the lives of immigrants, the poor and the vulnerable “.

“Suddenly”

“It was sudden. A lady passed by in a car and told us to get out of the way and we to get out of the way. It was in moments. The killer got in the car and pointed at us, insulted us, called us things like ‘bastard’ (bastard), I don’t know, things like that I don’t understand,” Luis Herrera, a 36-year-old Venezuelan who was at the scene and injured his arm.

“He gave all the volume (speed) to the car and it just passed me on one side,” he said, pointing to his arm.

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The massive attack took place in front of the Ozanam Center, a homeless and migrant shelter that has been very active in recent weeks due to “the current influx” of people crossing the border into Mexico, the police spokesman said on Sunday. Brownsville, Martin Sandoval.

The victims were in a group of about 25 people waiting at a bus stop.said Víctor Maldonado, executive director of the shelter. Maldonado, describing a gruesome scene, with body parts scattered along the street, indicated that the group consisted solely of Venezuelans who had just had breakfast at the facility.

Witnesses were “really shocked,” Maldonado told AFP. The Ozanam Center is open 24 hours a day, Maldonado explained. He noted that they house people who have emigrated from Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, China, Ukraine and Venezuela.

This event comes one day after a man killed at least eight people at a mall, also in Texas, during the most recent mass shooting that rocked the country.