Two children have been killed and six injured after a bus driver crashed into a daycare center in Canada on Wednesday, then got out of his car and began stripping naked.
Witnesses saw driver Pierre Ny St-Amand, 51, drive into the Laval Building, north of Montreal, and into a group of 12 people, including adults, at 8:30 a.m. One child was pronounced dead at the scene, the other in hospital.
Parents rushed to help the children trapped under the bus after they were run over. CBC reported. The six injured children are currently in hospital and are expected to survive.
Witness Hamdi Ben Chaabane watched the driver drive into downtown at about 24 mph before yelling erratically and stripping off his clothes.
‘He opened the door. He took off all his clothes. He was completely naked,” Chaabane recalls.
While the ages of the victims have not been released, authorities said the daycare is for children under five. The driver was arrested and charged with manslaughter.
Two children have been killed and six injured after a bus crashed into a daycare center in Laval, Quebec on Saturday. In all, about 12 people were injured and the six children are expected to survive
The driver, 51, was arrested and charged with murder after the horrific event
Chaabane described the driver as “in another world.”
“From what I saw, it wasn’t an accident,” Chaabane told the news outlet. “We don’t know why he did that. We dove on him. We tried to subdue him.’
Chaabane was one of many onlookers who rushed to pull out children trapped under the bus.
He was able to get one boy out, but struggled to pull a girl in deeper, according to the news outlet.
The nursery is located at the end of a driveway in a cul-de-sac. There is a bus stop at the cul-de-sac, but the driver would have to veer off the road and drive up the long driveway to hit the building.
“There were no signs of skid marks … He went straight to the nursery,” said eyewitness Mario Sirois.
Sirois’s wife, Ginette Lamoureux, the neighbor who came across the nursery shortly after the accident, said the driver was hysterical.
“His eyes were like they popped out,” she said.
About 80 children under the age of five go to that crèche. According to the New York Timesthe center is probably Garderie Éducative Ste-Rose.
Parents waited anxiously outside the daycare center after the incident. The motive of the crash is unclear, but officials speculate it was not an accident
Parents were seen picking up their children from school after the incident on Wednesday morning
Parents were seen hugging their children as they left the nursery where the accident took place
The bus is partially on display in the nursery. While officials have not named the nursery, it is likely Garderie Éducative Ste-Rose
Dr. Sainte-Justine Hospital director Marc Girard confirmed that the injured children were in kindergarten with at least two female and two male victims, the news outlet reported.
Girard added that the surviving children were conscious but sustained traumatic injuries.
Police revealed during a press conference this afternoon that the bus driver has been employed by Societe de transport de Laval for 10 years and has no criminal record.
“At this time, we don’t know the motive for the crime,” said police spokeswoman Erika Landry.
Meanwhile, Laval mayor Stephane Boyer speculated that the crash was not an accident.
“There is a theory that it was an intentional act, but that has yet to be confirmed by the investigation,” Boyer added.
Government officials claimed the incident was not a terrorist attack and there was no threat to the community.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said officials are “monitoring the situation closely” as they comfort parents who have lost their children.
“All Canadians are grieving with them and will do everything they can to support them in their agony in the coming days, months and years,” Trudeau said.
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