WILTON MANORS, Fla. — One person is dead and another seriously hurt after they were hit by a truck Saturday at a Pride parade in South Florida, according to multiple reports.
WSVN reports it happened at the start of the Stonewall Pride Parade in Wilton Manors near Fort Lauderdale.
Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis told WSVN the driver responsible for the crash has been caught. Fort Lauderdale Police later said they are speaking to the driver, but didn't give any insight if the crash was intentional or an accident.
The driver and those who were hit were a part of the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus family, according to a statement reported by news outlets from the group’s president, Justin Knight.
"To my knowledge it was an accident. This was not an attack on the LGBTQ community," Knight said in the statement. "We anticipate more details to follow and ask for the community’s love and support."
According to NBC 6, the mayor, who was there, described the event as a "terrorist attack on the LGBTQ community." However, Wilton Manors commissioner Chris Caputo says it "seems increasingly probable it was an accident."
According to CBS Miami, an official told a reporter the driver told police that his "foot was stuck between the gas pedal and the brake causing him to lose control of the truck."
A reporter with NBC 6 tweeted video of the man he says was driving the truck that crashed into people.
Wilton Manors Police confirmed on Twitter that the rest of Saturday's Stonewall Pride parade has been canceled, but the rest of the Pride festival's events will continue. There is no danger to the public.
Photos and video from the scene showed Democratic U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz in tears while in a convertible at the parade. In a statement Saturday night, Wasserman Schultz said she was safe but "deeply shaken and devastated that a life was lost."
“We were at the start of the parade, right in front of Fort Lauderdale High School,” spectator Christina Currie told the South Florida SunSentinel. “All of a sudden there was a loud revving of a truck and a crash through a fence. ... It was definitely an intentional act right across the lanes of traffic.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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