A Montrose neighborhood driver who reportedly killed a person after his vehicle plowed into a crowd outside a Houston bar early Thursday was charged with murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
The Houston Chronicle reported that authorities charged Cordale Robinson, 25, after accusing him of driving the vehicle into the people. The incident also injured at least one other person, Houston police said.
Houston Methodist San Jacinto Hospital in suburban Baytown identified the victim as Jared Jacobs, 25, who worked as a nurse in the intensive care unit there, the Chronicle said.
Witnesses told police that Robinson had been attacked by a group of men in the Grant and Hyde Park area near the neighborhood's Bayou City Bar and Grill and then got into a friend's car, a 2011 Dodge Avenger.
Robinson drove through the parking lot twice intentionally trying to strike pedestrians and hit two other vehicles in the process, authorities told the Chronicle. Jacobs became trapped under the vehicle and later died at a local hospital.
The Chronicle said a second man, 23, suffered injuries to his right leg and torso and was also transported to a hospital for treatment.
Police told KHOU-TV they believed Robinson was trying to hit people he had fought with earlier. Witnesses told the television station that Jacobs, though, was a bystander and not part of the group initially involved with Robinson.
KHOU-TV said Robinson had injuries, likely from the earlier fight, and was taken to a hospital for treatment under police custody.
"Jared was an eager recent graduate of nursing school who was already an incredible asset to the ICU," Houston Methodist San Jacinto Hospital said in a statement about Jacobs, per the Chronicle. "His colleagues describe a bright smile and welcoming personality that lifted everyone around him."