A man has killed two people and injured 17 others during a crime spree in Pennsylvania on Saturday (August 13).
As reported by the New York Post, police say the man drove his vehicle into a crowd of people in the borough of Berwick at approximately 6:15PM.
The crowd had gathered outside of the Intoxicology Department restaurant on West 2nd Street as part of a neighborhood fundraiser that was raising money for the victims of a devastating fire that killed 10 people last week.
The collision has resulted in the death of one person and left 17 others injured. The Post reports that all 17 were hospitalized as a result of the crash.
Joseph H. Stender III, a spokesman for Geisinger Medical Center, has revealed that four of those hospitalized are in a "critical condition", per the New York Times.
After fleeing the scene, police say the man traveled to the neighboring Nescopeck, where he assaulted and killed a woman. Authorities have not released any further details about this killing or where it took place.
Pennsylvania State Police have since confirmed that the suspect has been detained. Authorities have only recently identified the man as 24-year-old Adrian Oswaldo Sura Reyes.
Reyes has since been denied bail and is facing two counts of criminal homicide.
"The male suspect in both incidents is in custody," one state trooper told NBC 10.
The Post adds that police are planning to provide further updates on the case, adding that the "investigations are very active". Additionally, no causes or potential motives have revealed in relation to the crash.
In a Facebook post responding to the incident, representatives for the Intoxicology Department restaurant said: "Today was an absolute tragedy. We will be closed until further notice. Please respect our privacy while we grieve and try to process the events that occurred. Thank you."
The restaurant also shared videos and photos from the fundraising event prior to the tragedy, showing crowds enjoying live music, holding an auction, and children having a water balloon fight.
NBC 10 reports that last week's house fire killed seven adults and three children. The children were aged five, six, and seven years old. The oldest victim was 79, per the NY Times. Pets were also lost in the fire.
A local volunteer firefighter by the name of Harold Baker lost eight family members in the blaze - including his 22-year-old daughter and 19-year-old son.
The NY Times adds that in a cruel twist of fate, it has been reported that Baker also responded to Saturday's crash site. His daughter-in-law and several other his relatives had been injured.
Baker later revealed: "I haven’t processed the fire yet and now I got to deal with this."
The cause of the fire has not been released, but Trooper Anthony Petroski has revealed that the suspect in Saturday's deaths is currently not a suspect connected to the fatal blaze.
Robin Massina - the daughter of Nescopeck Mayor - has created a GoFundMe to help the surviving victims of the fire. As of this writing, the online fundraiser has surpassed $26,000.
In response to Saturday's fatal incidents, Massina said in an interview: "What is this madness? Why is it happening? We’re a small town that probably hasn’t been in the news since the flood of like 1978."
"It’s devastation after devastation, literally a few days apart," she added.
Our thoughts go out to everybody affected by these tragedies.
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