Two children were killed and six injured after a bus deliberately crashed into a daycare center in Laval, Quebec, Canada, while the driver was under arrest, local police said Wednesday.
“We think it was intentional, but we don’t know why,” Pierre Brochet, police chief of Laval, the city on the outskirts of Montreal where the incident took place, told AFP.
The 51-year-old driver was arrested shortly after the accident for “murder and dangerous driving”, with no criminal record.
WATCH: Two children have been killed and six others injured after a city bus plowed into a daycare center in Laval, just north of Montreal, on Wednesday morning. The driver of the bus has been arrested.
Read: https://t.co/6mp7OExZJY pic.twitter.com/Y3kgzpTDHw
– Global Montreal (@Global_Montreal) February 8, 2023
It was the parents who came to leave their children at the nursery and a neighbor who dominated the man, who, according to witnesses, looked “agitated” and “half-naked”.
“He opened the door. He took off all his clothes. He was completely naked. We ‘dive’ into him to control him,” Hamdi Ben Chaabane, the neighbor who helped immobilize the driver, told Radio Canada .
“He was in another world, he didn’t stop screaming. He didn’t say words,” he explained.
At the end of the afternoon there was still a perimeter around the daycare center located in a residential area and the bus remained in the building, the roof of which partly collapsed.
“I’m devastated. We all are,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said. “It’s every parent’s worst nightmare,” he added.
My heart is with the people of Laval today. No words can take away the pain and fear felt by parents, children and employees – but we are here for you. My thoughts are with everyone affected by this unfathomable, tragic event.
– Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) February 8, 2023
The bus crash happened around 8:30 a.m. local time (1:30 p.m. in Portugal), when many parents left their children at the nursery.
Source: DN
