Driver slams into Pennsylvania crowd and later kills mother, police say
One woman was killed and 17 others injured when a man drove a car into a crowd of attendees at an event in Berwick, Pennsylvania, on Saturday evening, state police said. The suspect fled and later attacked and killed his mother with a hammer, authorities allege.
The suspect, 24-year-old Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes, was arrested and arraigned Sunday by Magisterial District Judge Doug Brewer on two open counts of criminal homicide, according to state police.
At about 6:12 p.m. Saturday, a Honda Accord careened into a group of people in the parking lot of the Intoxicology Department, a bar in Berwick, according to a criminal complaint obtained by CBS News.
At the time of the crash, the bar was hosting a day-long fundraiser for the families of 10 people – including three children – who were killed in a house fire last week in the neighboring town of Nescopeck.
There were about 75 people in the parking lot when the crash occurred. One woman was killed and 17 others were injured. The complaint identified the woman killed as Rebecca Reese, who police said was dragged by the car after she was struck. Of the 17 people hospitalized, at least five remained in critical condition Sunday, according to Geisinger Medical Center, a hospital in nearby Danville.
According to the complaint, after crashing into the crowd, Reyes sped off and drove back to his home in Nescopeck, where minutes later, he struck his mother, Rosa Reyes, with the car, and also crashed into a neighbor's parked vehicle. He then assaulted his mother with a hammer, the complaint reads. She died at the scene. State troopers and local police responded and took Reyes into custody.
According to the complaint, Reyes told detectives that he had gotten into an argument with his mother at his Nescopeck home. He left the home, drove to Berwick, where he saw the crowd and intentionally crashed into them. He told detectives he then returned home, saw his mother standing in the street, and drove into her. He then confessed to taking a hammer out of the Honda and attacking her with it, the complaint reads.
Reyes, meanwhile, is not a suspect in the investigation into Nescopeck's recent deadly house fire, a state police spokesperson told CBS News.
"Today was an absolute tragedy," the Intoxicology Department said in a Facebook post shared on Saturday night. "We will be closed until further notice. Please respect our privacy while we grieve and try to process the events that occurred. Thank you."
Reyes is currently being held at the Columbia County Correctional Facility and has been denied bail.
Berwick is roughly 115 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
Faris Tanyos contributed to this report.