By JOHN O’CONNOR
Associated Press
CHATHAM, Ill. (AP) — Three children and a teenager were killed and others were injured when a car drove through an after-school building in a small city outside Springfield, Illinois, but authorities said Tuesday it likely was not a targeted attack.
The car left a road, crossed a field and smashed into the side of the building in Chatham on Monday afternoon, Illinois State Police said in a statement. It traveled through the building, striking numerous people before exiting the other side.
Police said two 7-year-olds, an 8-year-old and an 18-year-old were killed. Six more children were taken to hospitals and one remains in critical condition.
The driver, who was not injured, was taken to a hospital for evaluation and police said toxicology reports are pending. The driver, a 44-year-old woman, was not in custody on Tuesday morning and the cause of the crash remains under investigation.
Police said the crash doesn’t appear to have been a targeted attack. The struck building houses Youth Needing Other Things Outdoors, which holds after-school programs and summer camps, according to its website.
Although the reason for the deadly crash is not yet known, it was not the first of its kind. Only two days earlier, a car plowed through a crowded street during a Filipino heritage festival in Vancouver, British Columbia, killing 11 people.
“I cannot gather the words to express much of anything that will make sense in print. However, I do know that our families who suffered loss and injury today, are hurting very, very badly,” YNOT Outdoors Founder Jamie Loftus said in a social media post on Monday. “They are friends and their kids are like our kids.”
Loftus said security camera footage showed a vehicle that left the road “a substantial distance” away and sped across the field toward the building.
“With no apparent attempt to alter its direction,” it crossed a road, sidewalk and into YNOT’s parking lot, then into the building,” Loftus said. After passing through the building, the vehicle crossed a gravel road and crashed into a power pole and ballfield fence.
Video from the scene showed an area behind the building cordoned off with yellow tape and a large hole in the side of the building.
“I am horrified and deeply saddened by the deaths of children and numerous injuries in Chatham this afternoon,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement Monday. “My heart is heavy for these families and the unimaginable grief they’re experiencing – something that no parent should ever have to endure.”
He said his office was monitoring the situation and was ready to lend support.
Chatham Police Department asked for prayers.
“A terrible tragedy has occurred here that has affected all of us,” the department said in a Facebook post.
By Monday night, some members of the community and beyond had changed their Facebook profile photos to an image of a red ribbon and the words “Chatham Strong.”
Associated Press reporter Lisa Baumann contributed to this report from Bellingham, Washington.
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