New York (EFE) of them in critical condition and two more serious.
“We have no indication that there is a terrorist involvement,” said the New York Police Chief, Keechant Sewell, in her first appearance before the media after the events.
One of the injured is a police officer who intervened to try to stop the driver of the U-Haul rental company van, who was detained by the authorities.
All the injured were admitted to nearby hospitals, while the Police requested the collaboration of those who could have witnessed the outrages.
Extensive investigation of the event
Sewell clarified that there are seven scenarios that the Police are investigating, supposedly one for each hit victim and two in one of them, and confirmed that at least one first hit-and-run occurred before the Police began their pursuit, thus ruling out that the individual was being searched at the time.
The police chase lasted 30 minutes, according to various media, before ending on an avenue in another area of Brooklyn.
To all the other questions – about the identity of the attacker, his links to New York and his possible involvement in another similar incident in the past – the police chief said that it is premature to respond, since the investigations are just beginning.
According to local media, the arrested man is 62 years old and has no criminal record, although he had had an episode with the Police in 2019 due to apparent mental health problems, says the New York Post.
New York and a current memory
The outrage took place just on the day the final phase of the trial against Sayfullo Saipov began, the man convicted of the terrorist attack that in 2017 cost the lives of eight people, including five Argentines, in New York.
Saipov, who used a rental truck to run over cyclists on a bike path, was found guilty and now a jury must decide whether he should receive life in prison or the death penalty.