1 dead, 17 hurt in crash during fund-raiser for Pennsylvania fire victims
Authorities say a vehicle struck a crowd gathered at a Pennsylvania bar to raise money for victims of a house fire that killed 10 earlier this month
BERWICK, Pa. — One person was killed and 17 people injured when a vehicle struck a crowd gathered at a Pennsylvania bar for a fund-raiser for victims of a house fire that killed 10 earlier this month, authorities said. The suspect then killed a woman in a separate episode, police said.
The crash occurred outside the Intoxicology Department bar in Berwick, about 45 miles southwest of Scranton, at about 6:15 p.m. Saturday. In a release, Pennsylvania State Police identified the driver as 24-year-old Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes. He was arraigned early Sunday morning on two counts of criminal homicide.
It wasn't immediately clear whether he had a lawyer to comment on his behalf.
He was taken into custody after authorities received a call about an assault in nearby Nescopeck. Troopers found a woman dead.
The identities of the deceased weren’t immediately released. Five of those injured in the crash were in critical condition Sunday, Matt Mattei, a spokesman for Geisinger Medical Center, told the New York Times.
The bar was holding a fund-raiser for those affected by an Aug. 5 blaze that killed seven adults and three children in Nescopeck.
The circumstances surrounding Saturday evening’s crash were not immediately clear, including whether there was any connection to the fire or the fund-raising effort.
“What is this madness?” Robin Massina, a Berwick resident and daughter of the Nescopeck mayor, asked in an interview with the New York Times. “Why is it happening? We’re a small town that probably hasn’t been in the news since the flood of like 1978.”
The first funerals for victims of the fire were held Friday, and more were scheduled for Sunday and Monday. Authorities have said the cause of the fire remains under investigation.