BERWICK, Pa. — Flowers and messages express the community's grief at the growing memorial at the crime scene from the weekend.
It started as a day filled with food, fundraising, and water balloon fights and ended with a woman dead and more than a dozen hurt.
"This is a complete tragedy in a community where there's already been tragedy. We are going to do our job to the best of our abilities to conduct a thorough investigation, not only for the families but the community members. They're already hurting, and if there's anything we could do to help those families beyond our investigation, we absolutely will," said Tpr. Anthony Petroski of the Pennsylvania State Police.
Intoxicology Department, a bar and restaurant in Berwick, hosted a benefit to help the family members who lost ten people in a fire earlier this month in Nescopeck.
Adrian Sura Reyes, 24, admitted to police that he spotted the crowd outside the bar on Second Street and intentionally plowed into it, hitting several people. One person died, and five people are still in critical condition.
Sura Reyes told troopers, "I didn't ram them. I just ran them over."
Arrest papers say Sura Reyes then drove home to Nescopeck, hit his mother with the car, and beat her to death with a hammer. He told police he was tired of fighting with his mother over things like money.
Several of the victims from the crash at the Berwick benefit are related to people who died in the Nescopeck fire.
State police tell Newswatch 16 that Sura Reyes is not a suspect in the fire investigation at this time.
Sura Reyes is locked up without bail.
The fire on August 5 and the weekend deaths are all still under investigation.
Benefits for those affected are being set up.
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