What we know about the fatal car crash at the fund-raiser for fire victims in Berwick, Pa.
Adrian Reyes allegedly killed one person and injured 17 others in northeastern Pennsylvania when he plowed his car into a crowd raising money for families of 10 people killed in a recent fire.
A man killed one person and injured 17 others in northeastern Pennsylvania on Saturday, when he plowed his car into a crowd of people raising money for the families of the 10 people killed in a recent fire. He then beat his 56-year-old mother to death with a hammer, authorities said.
If you’re catching up on this tragic story, here’s what we know — and don’t know — so far.
What happened on Saturday?
The man, whom police identified as Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes, told investigators he was driving through the Columbia County borough of Berwick Saturday night, feeling “extremely frustrated” over a fight with his mother over money and other matters, according to the New York Times.
After he passed the crowd of about 75 people gathered for the fund-raiser in a barricaded parking lot, he turned the car around, sped up, and drove through the group, investigators say. His Honda Accord plowed into the crowd, which congregated outside a local bar and included young children, around 6 p.m., according to the Washington Post.
Brent Beckley, 32, who was DJing the event, told the Post that “everyone was having fun” in the moments before the crash. He was announcing raffle winners, near his daughter and other children, when he heard “a thud” and turned to see the speeding car.
Beckley said he pushed his daughter and the other children away before being struck. The impact left him with a broken hand, two broken ribs, a fractured collarbone, and internal bruising.
A few moments later, police in the neighboring town of Nescopeck received a call about a man beating a woman with a hammer, the Times said. Reyes later told investigators he struck the woman, whom local news reports identified as his mother, Rosa D. Reyes, with his car and then beat her to death.
The woman killed at the fund-raiser was identified as Rebecca L. Reese, according to news reports.
Seventeen people were injured there, with at least nine of them struck by the car. Four of those injured were hospitalized in critical condition Monday and three were in fair condition. Others were treated and released.
Reyes, 24, was arrested and charged with two counts of homicide, according to news reports, and is being held at the Columbia County Correctional Facility without bail. No attorney was listed as representing him as of Monday. He awaits a preliminary hearing on Aug. 29.
What do we know about Reese, the woman who was killed?
Not much information had been released about Reese as of Monday.
What do we know about the 17 people who were injured?
Their identities had not been released as of Monday.
What do we know about Reyes?
He had a documented history of violence against his mother, the Post reported, and was put on probation after striking her in the face with her cell phone in 2020.
After being arrested, reporters asked whether he had anything to say, according to tweets from reporters at the scene, and he replied: “Sorry, I’m sorry.”
What happened in the recent fire?
On Aug. 5, a “violent” and “forceful” house fire in Nescopeck killed 10 people, including three children ages 5, 6, and 7.
The victims included multiple relatives of local volunteer firefighter Harold Baker, who responded to the blaze not initially knowing it was occupied by his 19-year-old son, Dale; his 22-year-old daughter, Star; and other relatives.
“I tried to get in as fast as I can,” he told the Times earlier this month. “I tried three times, and then they realized whose house it was and why I was trying to go in there, and they yanked me off,” he said of his colleagues. “They said, ‘No, you got to get the hell out of here.’ ”
Three people were able to escape the fire, which neighbors described to reporters as a quick-moving “inferno.”
Along with Dale and Star Baker, the other adults who died were identified as David Daubert Sr., 79; Brian Daubert, 42; Shannon Daubert, 45; Laura Daubert, 47; and Marian Slusser, 54.
The funerals for the fire victims were held Friday, Sunday, and Monday.
What caused the fire?
The cause remains under investigation.
Reyes is not a suspect in the fire investigation, state Trooper Anthony Petroski told the Times on Sunday.
How is the community doing?
Petroski described the impact to the Post: “This is a complete tragedy in a community where there’s already been tragedy.”
Among those directly affected once again was Baker, the volunteer firefighter.
He told the Times that he responded to the crime scene in Nescopeck, where Reyes killed his mother. He said a daughter-in-law and other relatives were injured at the fund-raiser, and an aunt of his daughter-in-law had been killed.
“I haven’t processed the fire yet,” he told the Times, “and now I got to deal with this.”
Robin Massina, a Berwick resident and the daughter of the Nescopeck mayor, told the Times: “What is this madness? Why is it happening? We’re a small town that probably hasn’t been in the news since the flood of like 1978.”
Where are Berwick and Nescopeck?
The fund-raiser was being held in Berwick, a borough of about 10,000 people along the Susquehanna River in Columbia County. It is about 45 miles southwest of Scranton, not far from Bloomsburg.
Reyes is a resident of Nescopeck, a borough just across the river in neighboring Luzerne County where the fatal fire occurred. He killed his mother in Nescopeck.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.