A D.C. man drove his car into a child’s birthday party in Prince George’s County late Saturday night in a hit-and-run incident that police said left one person and dead and another 13 hospitalized.
Among those hospitalized were eight children.
Police in Bladensburg, Maryland, said they responded about 10:15 p.m. to the scene near Annapolis Road, where the driver had struck several people gathered in front of a house for the party.
Ashley Hernandez Gutierrez, a 31-year-old D.C. resident, died after the crash, officials said. Efforts to reach her family members were unsuccessful.
Officials said six adults and eight children were taken to hospitals for treatment. Of the child victims, six had been treated and released as of Sunday afternoon, while one child was in stable condition. One adult had been released, one was pending treatment and one was in stable condition, authorities said.
The suspect, a 66-year-old man, fled on foot Saturday night before turning himself in to authorities on Sunday morning, officials said. County prosecutors in Prince George’s were consulting Sunday on the incident, and criminal charges are pending.
The man’s name was not released. A Bladensburg police spokeswoman did not respond to questions Sunday afternoon about the incident.
Jesus Lemus, 19, said he was leaving his house when he heard screams coming from the site of the party. The family who lives there often celebrates holidays and birthdays by setting up a white tent with several tables in front of their home, he said.
Lemus said he rushed over to find a young woman and several children under a gold-colored Toyota Camry with D.C. license plates. He and other neighbors tried to pull some of the family members from under the vehicle.
By the time he had arrived, he said, the driver of the vehicle had already left.
