A child was inside the stolen SUV when it hit a crowd outside Guadalajara Cathedral on Saturday night, according to city government secretary Manuel Romo. Sixteen people were injured, some of them children.
Most if not all of the injured were pro-life activists. They had just finished a walk through the streets of Guadalajara and were about to begin a prayer session in front of the cathedral, in the historic center of the Jalisco capital. Video of the moment shows the SUV driving into people. Two others can be seen running after it, and one of them appears to be the owner.
Police arrested the driver at the scene. City officials said he took the vehicle near the Corona Market and struck the crowd as he tried to get away, and that he may have panicked on realizing a child was inside. Romo said the man was reportedly in his 30s and was under the influence of drugs.
Before the officers reached him, people outside the cathedral beat him, said Jaime Cedillo, president of the National Front for the Family, the group that organized the walk. “Even though the crowd was hitting him, we protected him until the police [came],” Cedillo said.
His view of the incident changed over the weekend. On Saturday, after speaking with the SUV’s owner, he said “everything seems to indicate that it was a theft.” By Monday he was calling on authorities to examine whether the driver had planned an attack on the activists. “We ask for transparency and speed in this investigation,” he said, and he also pressed for compensation for the victims and their families, which he called “a matter of justice and respect.”
Some of the injured had broken bones, according to reports. A 14-year-old girl was reportedly pinned under one of the wheels until citizens lifted the vehicle off her. Police helped the wounded, who were taken to hospital. By Sunday only four remained there, Mayor Verónica Delgadillo said. Three were expected to go home Monday, and the fourth would stay under observation.
Delgadillo said she was certain the Jalisco Attorney General’s Office would do its job, adding that “there will be justice in this case.” The city government expressed solidarity with the injured and promised them whatever help they need.
The mayor also said steps would be taken to “strengthen road safety” in the historic center. “In the coming days we’ll provide more information about the operations to strengthen security,” she said.
