Driver May Have 'Deliberately' Plowed into Pedestrians in Silicon Valley, Injuring 8: Reports
A car plowed into a group of pedestrians on Tuesday evening in Sunnyvale, California, leaving eight people injured, according to reports.
According to the Washington Post, the driver of the vehicle — who has only been identified as an adult male — is in custody. Captain Jim Choi from the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety told the newspaper that it “may have been an intentional act.”
“We don’t have any witnesses saying the vehicle tried to avoid the collision,” Choi told the Post. “Based upon just what was seen at the scene, the evidence on scene and some of the statements we obtained, there was no braking. The vehicle didn’t try to swerve out of the way.”
The Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for confirmation.
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An NBC Bay Area reporter shared a video of Choi speaking to press after the incident.
“It looks, upon preliminary investigation, that a driver deliberately drove into a group of eight pedestrians,” Choi said in the clip, adding that it was an “isolated event.”
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Choi added that all eight victims had been transported to local hospitals for their injuries, though none were identified. Photos and footage of the incident showed overturned bikes strewn across the intersection.
According to CBS San Francisco, police said the youngest victim is 13 years old.
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Choi told CBS that it was too early to rule out that the incident was a terrorist attack.
“As of right now, it’s all under investigation so we wouldn’t be able to draw that conclusion, it’s too early,” he said. “We are conducting the investigation. We don’t know what the motives were.”
