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Car Plows Into Pedestrians On Las Vegas Strip, Killing 1 And Injuring 37 – Police Officials Do Not Believe It Was An Act Of Terrorism

By Angelica N. Sumter
Published on: 18:10 PST, Dec 20, 2015

Tragedy struck when a car plowed into pedestrians on the Las Vegas Strip, leaving one person dead and 37 others injured, according to CNN. Just shortly after 6:45 p.m. on Sunday, an unidentified woman drove her vehicle into a crowd of over 30 people who were walking on a sidewalk near Paris Hotel & Casino and Planet Hollywood Las Vegas Resort & Casino on South Las Vegas Boulevard, where the Miss Universe pageant was being held.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department stated that after receiving several calls about the Las Vegas Strip crash, they sent about 70 emergency crew workers to the scene, where they immediately shut down Harmon Avenue and Flamingo Road to investigate the crash. As of now, sources say one person was killed during the crash and 37 others were transported to the University Medical Center and Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center to treat their injuries; however, three people are listed in critical condition.

According to CBS News, the driver who plowed into pedestrians on the Las Vegas Strip fled the scene, but later turned herself into security at a nearby hotel. It has not been confirmed, but it was reported that the driver of the vehicle was traveling with a 3-year-old girl when the incident occurred. Police officials don’t believe that it was an act of terrorism; however, they are oblivious to how or why the tragedy unfolded and they are “looking at it as possibly being intentional,” according to the Deputy Police Chief Brett Zimmerman.

Rabia Qureshi, who witnessed the Las Vegas crash, stated that “You think it’s a show, because you’re in Vegas. But then I saw some people fly in the air.” Her husband, Atif, added that “The first thing that came into my mind was that I should be out there helping them.”

“Everyone was running and as I was running, I saw a car up on the sidewalk coming toward us,” said a witness, who described the horrifying crash. “I saw a lady, she didn’t seem like she wanted to stop the car, she had both hands on her wheel and she was looking straight forward.” The witness also stated that, seconds before the Las Vegas Strip crash, several men were running after the vehicle, attempting to get the driver to stop.

However, the driver continued to press on the accelerator, plowing into more pedestrians on the sidewalk, and that’s when witness Antonio Nassar stated that he saw “The car rolled right in front of me. By the time I looked over to the right, all you could see was [her] driving away and people were bouncing off the front of the car, you can hear it.”

“The windshield is smashed at this point. She rode the sidewalk, she came to a stop at the Paris intersection, and people are punching into the window. She accelerated again and just kept mowing people down.”

Twitter reacts to Las Vegas Strip crash.

After the Las Vegas strip car crash, witness Sofie Kitterod, who saw paramedics transporting at least ten people to the hospital, stated that “What we’ve heard is that a car drove up on the sidewalk by Planet Hollywood and continued past Paris Hotel. There are many ambulances on both sites.”

Joel Ortega, 31, of Redlands, California and his wife, Carla, were spending the weekend in Vegas and were on their way to Paris Hotel & Casino when they discovered that the sidewalk had been blocked by Las Vegas police. Initially, they thought it was a movie shoot and “thought maybe we’d see someone famous.” However, they soon learned that it was crash that police officials were investigating. Joe then stated that the tragedy reminded him of the “mass shooting in San Bernardino, near their home.”

The driver – whose name is being withheld – is currently being detained at the Las Vegas police department, undergoing several tests to determine if she was under the influence of alcohol and/or a controlled substance when she mowed down pedestrians on Las Vegas Strip.

This is a developing story.

[Image via Shutterstock]

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