1 dead, 14 injured after SUV crashed into New Mexico store; driver hit accelerator instead of brakes

LAS CRUCES, N.M. (AP) — One person died and 14 others were injured Tuesday after a sports utility vehicle crashed through the front glass wall of a thrift store in Las Cruces, authorities said.

First responders said 10 of the injured in Tuesday’s crash were taken to hospitals for treatment and a 67-year-old woman was critically injured and died.

The 69-year-old woman who was driving the SUV was not injured, Las Cruces police said. Her name wasn’t immediately released.

The woman apparently was trying to park her vehicle and stepped on the accelerator instead of the brakes, police said.

Two of the injured were store employees and the rest were customers, and the victims ranged in age from about 30 to 90, police said.

The vehicle entered the Savers store near a self-checkout area and went all the way to the back side of the building, police said.

Elijah Sanchez, a Savers employee, said he heard people “screaming in pain” after the crash occurred about 10 a.m.

“It was pretty chaotic,” Sanchez told Las Cruces TV station KFOX 14/CBS 4. “I didn’t know what to think. But I just knew that the best thing to do was to try and go help the people who needed help.”