A U-Haul truck driver mowed down pedestrians in Brooklyn Monday morning, injuring people at multiple locations.
Police said at least eight people were injured in the rampage, local news outlet WABC reported.
A man in his 30s was struck on Fourth Avenue and taken to an area hospital in critical condition, while three other men on mopeds suffered minor injuries after being hit. Two other individuals with serious injuries were taken to area hospitals, according to WABC.
The driver fled in the truck and was surrounded by police after exiting an expressway to the north. Police said the suspect has been detained for questioning and a bomb squad was called to inspect the truck.
Police said the suspect is a 62-year-old homeless man named Weng Sor who may have been living in the truck, WABC reported.
“We have no idea of motives at this time but this wasn’t an accident,” said Justin Brannan, a New York city councilor who represents the area. He added that two victims are in “very bad shape.”
Footage posted on social media showed numerous emergency responders at the scene of the stopped U-Haul truck.
Police believe the U-Haul driver started driving erratically through the Bay Ridge neighborhood, at one point jumping a sidewalk, after police attempted to pull him over, WABC reported.
“We believe that the police approached this driver, tried to get him to pull over, and at that time he said something to the effect of ‘I want to die’ and then proceeded to start driving on the sidewalks,” Brannan told WABC.
He described the event as “totally on purpose but totally random.”
There are no additional credible threats, according to Fabien Levy, the press secretary for New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
The incident comes as a jury weighs the death penalty for the perpetrator of a 2017 New York City truck ramming attack.
Sayfullo Saipov was convicted last month after mowing down and killing eight people along a bike path in an attack influenced by the Islamic State. Saipov’s jury on Monday began considering whether he will be sentenced to death, the Associated Press reported.
This was a breaking news story. The details were periodically updated as more information became available.
