Associated Press
LIVERPOOL, England — A British man was arrested after he drove a minivan into Liverpool soccer fans celebrating their team’s Premier League Championship in an incident that injured almost 50.
Authorities said the 53-year-old man is believed to be the only suspect and the incient is not being investigated as an act of terrorism.
Hundreds of thousands of fans had lined the route of the hourslong procession under heavy security along a 10-mile (16 kilometer) route through the city
Here’s what we know so far about the crash:
A car rammed into a crowd
Authorities say that, as the parade was ending, a man plowed his car into a crowd of soccer fans in Water Street, in the northwestern English city. Emergency vehicles and an air ambulance rushed to the scene to attend to the injured.
Paradegoer Peter Jones said he heard the car smash into the crowd and saw at least a half-dozen people down in the road.
Another witness, Harry Rashid, said the car stopped after initially hitting some of the victims. Rashid said people then charged toward the vehicle, smashing its windows, and the driver kept going.
Dozens were injured
Nearly four dozen people were injured, including four children.
Twenty-seven people were taken to local hospitals, and another 20 were treated for minor injuries at the scene, according to authorities. Liverpool City Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram said four of the injured were “very, very ill in hospital.”
Four people were stuck beneath the vehicle and had to be freed by firefighters.
A suspect has been arrested
Police detained a 53-year-old man from the Liverpool area who is believed to be the driver of the vehicle.
Merseyside Police say they are not treating the incident as terrorism and aren’t looking for any other suspects.
The driver is in custody but has not been charged, and police have not released his name. But the force identified him as a white British man, in a possible attempt to prevent misinformation from flooding social media.
Last summer, a teen in the nearby town of Southport killed three girls in a stabbing rampage at a dance class. Incorrect information quickly spread online saying the attacker was an asylum-seeker. In fact, he had been born in the U.K. Rioting spread across England and Northern Ireland, targeting mosques and accommodation for asylum-seekers.
Tragedy struck as Liverpool celebrated
Liverpool fans were celebrating the city team’s Premier League soccer championship in a record-tying 20th top-flight title.
The team’s last league title was in 2020, but fans couldn’t publicly celebrate in the same way due to pandemic-related restrictions.
Monday’s parade wound through the streets despite wet weather. Fans danced and waved scarves while the team’s players traveled on top of two buses.
Liverpool clinched the title after defeating Tottenham last month. Rival Manchester United also has the achievement of winning 20 English league titles.
