Driver convicted in deaths of 8 people struck by SUV outside migrant shelter sentenced to 60 years

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A Texas jury on Friday found a driver guilty of intoxication manslaughter over the deaths of eight people who were struck by an SUV that plowed into a crowded bus stop outside a migrant shelter on the U.S.-Mexico border.

George Alvarez, 35, was found guilty of eight counts of intoxication manslaughter at the end of a weeklong trial. He was also convicted on 10 counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and sentenced by a judge to serve 60 years in prison.

“You’re never truly satisfied with whatever outcome you get, because eight people are still deceased and 10 got their lives changed forever. But I’m satisfied with the way things turned out,” Cameron County District Attorney Luis Sáenz said.

The jury handed down the punishment more than a year after authorities say Alvarez lost control of the vehicle after running a red light. The deadly scene happened in Brownsville, which has long been an epicenter for migration.

Brownsville Police Chief Felix Sauceda said at the time of the crash that the SUV ran a red light, lost control, flipped on its side and hit 18 people. Six people died at the scene and 12 people were critically injured. The victims were all male, and several of them were from Venezuela.

Following the verdict, Alvarez apologized to the families of the victims. “From the bottom of my heart, I’m really sorry,” he said.

A shelter operator said victims struck by the vehicle had been waiting for the bus to return to downtown Brownsville after spending the night at the overnight shelter. Authorities said Alvarez tried to flee but was held down by several people at the scene.

Alvarez admitted to having an addiction to cocaine since the age of 11 after he said his parents left him to be raised with a grandparent. Art Teniente, the prosecutor for the Cameron County District Attorney’s office, said he believed the accident was unintentional but that Alvarez’s drug addiction played a role in the fatal crash.

Defense attorneys argued Alvarez’s test results only found a trace of the drug but that he wasn't intoxicated on the day his vehicle struck the crowd at the bus stop. He asked the jury to consider Alvarez’s six children and consider a sentence of either probation or the minimum two-year sentence for each count of intoxication manslaughter.

Ashley Flores, 33, was one of the jurors and said they didn't reach the decision easily or quickly.

“We really did try to give him the benefit of the doubt, but unfortunately we did believe he was intoxicated at the time based on the evidence,” Flores said.

Maria Rodriguez Sangroni lost her 18-year-old son, Cristian Jesus, in the accident. She said all she received from police after the accident was her son’s rosary beads and felt the 60-year sentence was fair and that justice was served.

Sangroni did not accept Alvarez's apology to the families.

“He’ll have to pay a divine justice. From that, no one is safe, no one. This is a light punishment for what awaits him with God. He’ll have to be accountable to God,” Sangroni said.

George Alvarez, center, listens and reacts to his sentence alongside his attorneys on Friday, June 28, 2024, at the Cameron County Courthouse in Brownsville, Texas. A Texas jury found Alvarez guilty of intoxication manslaughter over the deaths of eight people who were struck by an SUV that plowed into a crowded bus stop outside a migrant shelter on the U.S.-Mexico border. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald via AP)

Four people place a wooden cross in the ground, Tuesday, May 9, 2023, in Brownsville, Texas, that they built and hand-painted in homage to the eight Venezuelans who lost their lives when the driver of an SUV killed eight people when it slammed into a bus stop. A Texas jury has found George Alvarez guilty of intoxication manslaughter, Friday, June 28, 2024 over the deaths of eight people who were struck by an SUV that plowed into a crowded bus stop outside a migrant shelter on the U.S.-Mexico border. (Miguel Roberts/The Brownsville Herald via AP, File)

FILE - Emergency personnel respond to a fatal collision in Brownsville, Texas, on Sunday, May 7, 2023. fter they were struck by a vehicle while waiting at a bus stop near Ozanam Center, a migrant and homeless shelter. A Texas jury has found George Alvarez guilty of intoxication manslaughter, Friday, June 28, 2024 over the deaths of eight people who were struck by an SUV that plowed into a crowded bus stop outside a migrant shelter on the U.S.-Mexico border. (AP Photo/Michael Gonzalez, File)

FILE - A passenger looks at a memorial site from a moving vehicle where eight migrants were killed, and several others injured the day before while waiting at a bus stop in Brownsville, Texas, Monday, May 8, 2023. A Texas jury has found George Alvarez guilty of intoxication manslaughter, Friday, June 28, 2024 over the deaths of eight people who were struck by an SUV that plowed into a crowded bus stop outside a migrant shelter on the U.S.-Mexico border. (AP Photo/Michael Gonzalez, File)

FILE - Poster boards regarding George Alvarez stand during a news conference on Monday, May 8, 2023, in Brownsville, Texas. A Texas jury has found Alvarez guilty of intoxication manslaughter, Friday, June 28, 2024, over the deaths of eight people who were struck by an SUV that plowed into a crowded bus stop outside a migrant shelter on the U.S.-Mexico border. (AP Photo/Valerie Gonzalez, File)

FILE - Patty Limon watches her daughters Annaalexis Limon and Monica Limon place a Venezuelan flag, painted by Annaalexis, at a memorial where eight migrants were killed, and several others injured the day before while waiting at a bus stop in Brownsville, Texas, Monday, May 8, 2023. A Texas jury has found George Alvarez guilty of intoxication manslaughter, Friday, June 28, 2024 over the deaths of eight people who were struck by an SUV that plowed into a crowded bus stop outside a migrant shelter on the U.S.-Mexico border. (AP Photo/Michael Gonzalez, File)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea launched at least one short-range ballistic missile off its east coast Monday, South Korea’s military said, a day after the North vowed “offensive and overwhelming” responses to a new U.S. military drill with South Korea and Japan.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched from North Korea's southeastern town of Jangyon at 5:05 a.m. It said an additional, unidentified ballistic missile launch trajectory was detected 10 minutes later, a suggestion that North Korea might have performed two missile launches.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff said South Korea’s military has boosted its surveillance posture and is closely exchanging related information with the United States and Japan.

The launch came two days after South Korea, the U.S. and Japan ended their new multidomain trilateral drills in the region. In recent years, the three countries have been expanding their trilateral security partnership to better cope with North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats and China’s increasing assertiveness in the region.

The “Freedom Edge” drill was meant to increase the sophistication of previous exercises with simultaneous air and naval drills geared toward improving joint ballistic-missile defense, anti-submarine warfare, surveillance and other skills and capabilities. The three-day drill involved a U.S. aircraft carrier as well as destroyers, fighter jets and helicopters from the three countries.

On Sunday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry issued a lengthy statement strongly denouncing the “Freedom Edge” drill, calling it an Asian version of NATO. It said the drill openly destroyed the security environment on the Korean Peninsula and contained a U.S. intention to lay siege to China and exert pressure on Russia.

The statement said North Korea will “firmly defend the sovereignty, security and interests of the state and peace in the region through offensive and overwhelming countermeasures.”

Monday’s launch was the North’s first weapons firing in five days. On Wednesday, North Korea launched what it called a multiwarhead missile in the first known launch of a developmental, advanced weapon meant to defeat U.S. and South Korean missile defenses. North Korea said the launch was successful, but South Korea dismissed the North’s claim as deception to cover up a failed launch.

In recent weeks, North Korea has also floated numerous trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea in what it has described as a tit-for-tat response to South Korean activists sending political leaflets via their own balloons. South Korea responded by briefly resuming its anti-Pyongyang frontline propaganda broadcasts for the first time in years.

In mid-June, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin struck a deal vowing mutual defense assistance if either is attacked. Observers say the pact could embolden Kim to launch more provocations at South Korea. The U.S., South Korea and others believe Pyongyang has been supplying conventional weapons to Russia for its war against Ukraine in return for military and economic assistance.

Meanwhile, North Korea opened a key ruling party meeting Friday to determine what it called “important, immediate issues” related to works to further enhance Korean-style socialism. On the meeting’s second day, North Korea's leader spoke about “some deviations obstructing” efforts to improve the country's economic status and unspecified important tasks for resolving immediate policy issues, North Korea’s state media reported Sunday.

In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, a U.S. fighter jet takes off from USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier during the Freedom Edge exercise by the U.S., Japanese and South Korea at East Sea on Friday, June 28, 2024. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Rashan Jefferson/The U.S. Navy via AP)

In this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, a U.S. fighter jet prepares to take off from USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier during the Freedom Edge exercise by the U.S., Japanese and South Korea at East Sea on Friday, June 28, 2024. (Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Rashan Jefferson/The U.S. Navy via AP)

FILE - The Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is anchored in Busan, South Korea, on June 22, 2024. The newly-inaugurated Freedom Edge exercise is wrapping up in the East China Sea, having brought together Japanese, South Korean and American naval assets for multi-domain maneuvers for the first time.(Song Kyung-Seok/Pool Photo via AP, File)