On New Year’s Day, after midnight in Rochester New York, there were nine pedestrians crossing the street on the crosswalk. A Ford SUV slammed into a ride-share Mitsubishi Out-lander that was exiting the parking lot. The force of the crash was so hard that both vehicles went straight through the pedestrians walking. 

This was to be further investigated to be a terrorist attack, but police now believe it wasn’t. Devastatingly, the two victims in the Mitsubishi, Justina Hughes and Joshua Orr, were killed. Their family described to ABC News them as a “beautiful free spirit” and “a beautiful, generous human, filled with love and positivity and an advocate for those struggling with mental health”. As for the nine pedestrians, they were injured and taken to the hospital. 

The suspect, Avery, who was driving the Ford SUV rented the car and was seen speeding up to the walking pedestrians that were crossing. He had a dozen gasoline canisters in the trunk causing a huge fire after the crash that took firefighters an hour to extinguish. Since there was so many canisters which were a fire accelerate, the danger level was high. Both the bomb squad and joint arson task force had to appear at the scene. 

The night where families and friends come together to celebrate the new year sadly ended in a tragedy for their families. Many prayers have been sent out to both Justina Hughes and Joshua Orr’s families.