2 children killed as bus slams into day care near Montreal
Two children were killed and six more were injured when a city bus plowed into a day care in a horrifying scene Wednesday morning north of Montreal.
The bus incomprehensibly made no attempt to slow down, and the driver appeared to intentionally ram into the day care, investigators and witnesses said.
Pierre Ny St-Amand, 51, was identified as the suspect, according to Canadian news outlets. He was arrested and charged with homicide and careless driving.
The six wounded children who survived the incident had non-life-threatening injuries, officials said.
“There were no signs of skidmarks,” witness Mario Sirois said. “He went directly into the day care.”
The day care building sits at the end of a long driveway in a cul-de-sac in Laval, Quebec, just north of Montreal.
After the crash, the bus driver hopped out of the vehicle, stripped naked and started screaming, according to another witness, Hamdi Benchaabane.
“He was just yelling; there were no words coming out of his mouth,” Benchaabane said.
Three parents subdued the driver with help from Benchaabane, who lives near the day care. The suspect “was in a different world,” Benchaabane said. “It was a nightmare, I can’t believe it.”
Any motive for the attack remains unclear, though government officials said it was not a terrorist attack. Authorities said the driver worked for Laval’s public transit system for 10 years with a clean work history and no criminal record.
“There is a theory that it was an intentional act, but that remains to be confirmed by the investigation,” said Laval Mayor Stéphane Boyer.
With News Wire Services
