Driver plows into child’s birthday party in Maryland, killing 1 and injuring 13, turns himself in
By Alaa Elassar, CNN
(CNN) — A woman was killed and 13 others injured when a car drove into a birthday party tent filled with children Saturday in Bladensburg, Maryland.
Criminal charges are pending against a 66-year-old Washington, DC, man who initially fled the scene on foot but later turned himself in, the Bladensburg Police Department said Sunday in a news release.
The woman who died has been identified as Ashley Hernandez Gutierrez, 31, of Washington.
Jocelyn Route, a former Prince George’s County school board member and Bladensburg council member who lives down the street, told CNN affiliate WUSA she heard the crash from her bedroom.
“I was awakened by big booms … There were ambulances all around, there was a car that was actually in the yard, there was screaming,” Route told WUSA. “By the time I got down here, the emergency personnel were trying to resuscitate a woman who was pinned underneath a car.”
Route said she saw five children who appeared to be badly injured and another three who were able to walk to ambulances. She added neighbors told her a car had been driving erratically through the neighborhood before the crash.
A video posted on X shows police and firefighters at the scene early Sunday morning, where a tent believed to have been used for the birthday celebration was torn open and partially collapsed.
The victims, including six adults and eight children ranging from 1-17 years old, were taken to hospitals, Bladensburg police said. One of the children remains in the hospital in stable condition.
Three of the adult victims remain hospitalized in stable condition, one is awaiting treatment and another has been released, police said.
CNN’s Karina Tsui contributed to this report.
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