SYDNEY, Australia — Australian ****** say the driver of a vehicle that rammed into pedestrians in Melbourne is an Australian citizen of Afghan decent who has a known history of **** use and mental health issues.
****** said in news conference late Thursday that there was no evidence or intelligence to indicate that the ******** was connected to *********, but they believe the act was deliberate. They said counter-****** officials would remain involved in the ************* to be sure there was no connection.
****** said the 32-year-old driver was known to state ****** on “historical ******* matters.”
****** say a man who deliberately drove a car into a crowded intersection in Melbourne, Australia had a history of mental health issues.
19 people were taken to the hospital. pic.twitter.com/Hw0pYTRUHs
— AJ+ (@ajplus) December 21, 2017
The two men were arrested after the SUV in which they were travelling rammed into pedestrians on a busy central Melbourne street Thursday, leaving 14 people ******* in what ****** believe was a deliberate act.
Victoria state ****** said the driver of the vehicle and a second man were in custody after the ********, which occurred on Flinders Street in the city’s central business district just after 4:45 p.m. when the area was busy with Christmas shoppers.
Barrett confirmed 14 people had been ******* in the ******. Several were taken to hospitals, and two were in ******************, including a pre-school aged boy with head ********. Earlier media reports said up to 19 people had been *******.
Witnesses described horrific scenes from the ********, which started when the SUV ran a red light outside the city’s iconic Flinders Street train station and sped up to hit pedestrians crossing the road, striking more than a dozen people before crashing into a traffic barrier near a cable car stop.
“I was crossing Flinders Street on the way to the train station. I heard an engine rev behind me and heard a thump,” one man identified only as David said on ABC TV. He said he turned around saw “people literally getting thrown into the air as it hit them.”
Witnesses said when the car crashed it was rushed by bystanders who started pulling the two men out before ****** arrived a few minutes later.
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull sent a tweet calling the ******** “shocking” and said his thoughts and prayers were with the ******* and those treating them.
****** said officers have been deployed across the area and the site would be closed-off as a ***** scene for some time.
“****** will continue to have a strong presence in the Melbourne CBD tonight,” Barrett said.
It’s the second time this year that Melbourne, regularly ranked one of the *****’s most livable cities, has been traumatized by a car ******.
In January, six people were ****** and more than 30 were ******* when a car was driven up a footpath in Bourke Street, near Thursday’s ********. ****** arrested the driver, who was known to ****** for a history of illicit **** use, family ******** and mental health problems. ****** said the case was not *********-related.
There have been a number of car ******* in other parts of the ***** in recent years, many of them linked to *********.
In October a man drove a truck down a New York City bicycle path, ******* eight people. The driver is accused of providing material support to the Islamic State group among other charges including ******.
In an August ******, 13 people were ****** and more than 100 were ******* when a vehicle rammed into pedestrians on a walking street in *********. London has seen three such ******* this year, two linked to Islamic extremists and another seen as a reprisal ****** outside a mosque, ******* 13 people altogether.
A vehicle ****** on a shopping street in Stockholm in April ****** five people, while an ****** on a Christmas market in Berlin last December ****** 12.
The deadliest such ****** in recent years took place in Nice, France, in July 2016 when a man drove a refrigerated truck weighing about 20 tons into a crowd, ******* 86 people.