One dead, multiple injured after driver repeatedly rams into pedestrians on Las Vegas Strip

By Fusion Staff  |  December 21, 2015 | 2:46pm
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Dozens of people were injured and one was killed after a woman drove repeatedly into groups of pedestrians walking on the Las Vegas Strip Sunday night.

According to police, the 20-something woman—who was driving with a three-year-old child in the car—veered onto the sidewalk a few times on a portion of the strip near the Planet Hollywood and Paris Las Vegas hotels. At least 26 people were hospitalized at different locations after the incident and, according to early reports, a total of 37 were given medical attention.

The suspect was taken into police custody Sunday night, where officers tried to determine whether she was under the influence of alcohol or other drugs.

Las Vegas Deputy Police Chief Brett Zimmerman said that they they’re considering this a likely deliberate act, it was “not an act of terrorism“—a frightening, not unprecedented possibility in light of the deadly San Bernardino attack and ISIS’ repeated calls for lone wolf terrorist actors. Zimmerman added that he’s confident police will be able to figure out what happened: “Due to the area we’re in—with numerous cameras belonging to the hotel, surveillance cameras, and our RTC cameras—we will comb through that footage to get a detailed idea of what occurred.”

Passersby described a terrifying scene to local news outlet KSNV:

One witness, Los Angeles resident Michal Jackson, said the car was initially driving slowly on the sidewalk, and someone tried to get it to stop. Jackson said the car sped up when it reached a group of people. “It accelerated, and it just plowed through the group of people, and we were in shock,” said Jackson. “Then it kind of hopped off the curb, and there was a lady that was stuck under the car, and when it hopped back on the curb, she was laying between the curb and the street, and she wasn’t moving at all.”

Jackson added that someone who tried to stop the car was also injured. “There was another guy who was right next to her passenger window, banging on the door to get it to stop, and then the car accelerated again, and that guy flew off the car,” he told KSNV.

Another witness said the car was like “a bowling ball and the human bodies were like pins,” adding, “I saw some people fly in the air.”

In a statement, Nevada governor Brian Sandoval described the incident as a “shocking and tragic event.”

No charges have been announced against the suspect at this time. The child in the car was not injured.

This is a developing story.

Danielle Wiener-Bronner is a news reporter.

 
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