A 12-year-old child died in a crash near a Walmart in Cape Coral late Wednesday afternoon. According to Cape Coral Police, the crash happened at 1619 Del Prado Blvd. South. The crash has been upgraded to a traffic homicide investigation.
While backing out of a parking spot, an elderly driver hit the gas instead of the brakes. The car, in reverse and out of control, ran over three pedestrians. After the collision, the car continued until it collided with another car.
The 12-year-old victim was trauma alerted to GCH and later died. One patient went to Gulf Coast Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The third-person sustained minor injuries.
Alcohol, drugs and excessive speed were not factors in the crash.
Officer Brandon Sancho said, “The driver did stay on scene after the crash. Three total people were hit.”
Currently, the elderly man is not facing any charges.
Other Walmart shoppers witnessed the incident, describing it as nothing short of traumatic. One woman told WINK News she’ll never forget what she saw.
“Nothing was moving,” she said. “I saw the arm and what I thought was a red shirt. I don’t know if it was a shirt or a blanket or whatever they had, but it looked like something red. And I saw the arm, the skin color… I don’t know. I didn’t see anything moving. And I just kind of didn’t even want to look, because I wasn’t expecting to see a person, you know… I didn’t know what happened. I thought maybe there was a fender-bender or car accident. And that’s what made me say, ‘What is going on out there?'”
“When I exited the store at that second, when I came back in and went to the other exit, that’s when I saw the person laying flat down and there were EMS and ambulance people running around, like, actually running back and forth and moving very, very quickly,” said another shopper. “Nothing was moving.”
This is a developing story and WINK News will update with new information as it becomes available.