A Fort Bliss soldier was killed while car shopping Monday when he was hit by a vehicle in a bizarre incident at an El Paso used-car lot, police said.
Pvt. Readus L. Moore Jr., 23, was looking for a car at Superstar Motors when he was fatally struck by a Jeep Liberty driven by an employee of a neighboring car lot, police said.
The collision occurred at 5:23 p.m. at neighboring car lots on Montana Avenue near McRae Boulevard.
Farhad Moraveg, 63, who works at Luxer Motors, was moving a 2007 Jeep Liberty, which was parked outside, into a gated area for closing, police and an employee said.
“We don’t know what happened,” said Mario Hernandez, an employee of Luxer Motors, 9707 Montana Ave. Moraveg “is in the hospital. We haven’t spoken to him.”
The Liberty driven by Moraveg accelerated, lost control and drove onto Montana, where it struck a Nissan Versa that was in a westbound lane, police said in a news release.
The Versa driven by Karla Olmos, 20, then collided on Montana with a Toyota Rav 4 driven by Audreana Osuna, also 20, and a Chevrolet Traverse driven by Stephanie Lopez, 31, police said.
The Jeep Liberty then went into the lot of Superstar Motors, 9701 Montana, police said. Moore, another customer and an employee were hit by the Jeep or debris as the vehicle crashed into the building.
Moore ended up pinned by the Jeep inside the building, police said. Moore was transported to Del Sol Medical Center, where he died.
Moore was a native of Hiram, Georgia, who had joined the U.S. Army last November, Fort Bliss officials said.
Moore was an armor crewman with Bravo Company, 4th Battalion, 70th Armor Regiment, 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team.
“Pvt. Moore was a terrific soldier and beloved member of the 4-70 AR Thunderbolts battalion,” battalion commander Lt. Col. Bryan Frizzelle said in a statement.
“He was a patriot who volunteered to serve his country as a tanker during a time of war,” Frizzelle said. “His tragic and unforeseeable death deprives his family, his son, and our Army of a truly talented young man.”
Moraveg was hospitalized at University Medical Center of El Paso in undisclosed condition, police said.
Police said that the customer and the car lot employee hit by the Jeep did not have serious injuries.
Fort Bliss officials said that one of the two others injured in the incident is a soldier and has been treated and released from a hospital.
Superstar Motors staff could not be reached for comment.
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© 2019 the El Paso Times (El Paso, Texas)
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