A gruesome scene unfolded in Brenham, Texas, where a stolen 18-wheeler plowed into a Department of Public Safety office leaving multiple people with serious injuries, officials said. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) urged the public to avoid the area as investigators and emergency personnel rushed to the site at 975 US Highway 290, about a one-hour drive northwest of Houston.
According to a social media blast from the DPS’ Southeast Texas Region, first dispatched at 11:17 a.m. on Friday, several people were struck by a commercial motor vehicle that rammed into the Brenham DPS Office. The mayhem continued as three victims were life-flighted with critical injuries while three others received treatment at local hospitals, stated Texas Senator Lois Kolkhorst on social media. "DPS reports that no staff suffered serious injury; one staffer had been trapped for a period of time inside the office," Kolkhorst revealed in the post, solidifying the harrowing nature of the incident shared by KXAN.
The severity of the crash was underscored by the scene: a heavy-duty truck embedded in the building, its cab demolished, the payload of rebar scattered. The vehicle has since been wrenched from its crash site. Law enforcement has since deemed the act as intentional, a conclusion drawn from the arrest of the unnamed individual at the wheel. "According to law enforcement, this appears to be an intentional, criminal act," Kolkhorst stated, confirming early suspicions.
A tense backdrop to the crash was provided by Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough, who claimed that the driver had been denied a commercial driver's license just the day before the attack. "He returned today with intent to harm," Keough asserted in a charged Facebook post, as reported by My San Antonio. The Texas Rangers are spearheading an investigation into the chain of events that led to the shocking crime.
The community and state officials await further details as investigators piece together the motives and the sequence of events of this stark crime. In the meantime, the focus remains on the recovery of those injured in the wake of an extraordinary act of violence directed at civil servants and the very edifice of public safety. This story is ongoing and will be updated as new pieces of information come to light.
