A dozen members of the Gulf Shores High School marching band in Alabama were “mowed” over by a vehicle driven by an elderly man in a Mardi Gras parade.
The tragedy – which reportedly left four students in critical condition and sent eight others to the hospital – occurred on February 28. The students were struck from behind as they started marching, according to WKRN-TV. WKRG-TV reported the victims are ages 12 to 17 and the driver is 73.
Multiple members of the GSHS marching band were struck by the vehicle, which was also in the parade. Dramatic photos of band members being tended to at the scene circulated immediately on social media. “Every indication is that it was just a tragic accident by an elderly man driving his vehicle into these band members,” police said in a news conference, adding that they were in the process of reconstructing the accident.
You can listen to dispatch audio here from the tragedy.
It’s the second vehicle-related tragedy at a Mardi Gras parade in just a few days. An accused drunk driver plowed into a crowd of parade watchers at the Endymion parade in New Orleans, which is also part of Mardi Gras festivities. Initial reports also said multiple people were in critical condition right after that crash too, but it was later reported that none of the victims at the Endymion parade had life-threatening injuries.
Although the modus operandi on the surface mirrors that of terrorists in Europe, who used vehicles to crash into crowds, so far neither Gulf Shores nor New Orleans appears related to terrorism. Gulf Shores authorities said in a press conference that indications are that the marching band tragedy was an accident.
Fox 4 Beaumont reported that “Eyewitness accounts say a driver slipped off the brake onto the gas, plowing into the back of the Gulf Shores High School marching band.”
Just as the parade started to turn the corner, a late model SUV driven by an Alabama man who has not been identified “accelerated and struck” the band members, police said in a news conference. The patients were transported to local hospitals.
According to Fox News, the vehicle that crashed into the marching band was part of the parade, which was cancelled after the accident.
Fox News reported that the car that crashed into the van had the initials MOAA on its side, which stands for the Military Officers Association of America.
Here’s the video from the first police press conference:
Fox10 News reporter Candace Murphy tweeted that an eyewitness reported seeing victims trapped under the vehicle that ran into the band.
The situation was fluid and unfolding on February 28, and injury counts ranged from nine to 11 and then to 12, with three reportedly in critical condition at first. That number was later increased to four people in critical condition.
Here are some of the videos and photos emerging out of the marching band tragedy:
Read more about the tragedy here:
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