New York rampage
Bronx, after bystanders wrestled him to the ground and police detained him.
Alyssa Elsman, 18, from Michigan, died at the scene, while her 13-year-old sister was taken to hospital after being struck by Rojas’ U-turn down the pedestrian thoroughfare. The Elsmans were on a family holiday.
Police said Rojas injured another 21 in the sightseeing hotspot, speeding north for three blocks against the traffic, before his car struck a pole and burst into flames at the corner of Broadway and West 45th St.
Rojas, who has two prior drink-driving offences, was taken into police custody after the crash. He was charged with murder, attempted murder and aggravated vehicular homicide.
Police said he was arrested last week after he pointed a knife at a lawyer and accused him of stealing his identity.
Rojas told officers he was hearing voices.
Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, in New York for a United Nations event, said no Australians were believed injured in the incident.
A portrait of Rojas as a troubled former serviceman emerged, with sources saying he was discharged from the navy as the result of a special court-martial.
Harrison Ramos, a friend of Rojas, said he hadn’t been the same since returning from active duty and that he had been posting “crazy stuff” online. Witnesses said he was “driving like a madman and screaming”.
“It looked like he was trying to hit people. He had the angriest, craziest face and he was literally going after people,” Michael Rickerby, a 24year-old from Tennessee said.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said “there was no indication that this was an act of terrorism”.
Horrific photos taken in the wake of the carnage show pedestrians lying in the street and a woman covered with a white sheet on the footpath. THE NSW Minister for Family and Community Services Pru Goward has called from an “urgent briefing” from her department asking how three girls – aged 12, 13 and 16 – were allowed to travel unaccompanied from Taree to the Gold Coast after they were caught on an alleged 1200km joy ride.
It comes after the Gold Coast Bulletin yesterday revealed the three girls ran away after the department paid for their public transport tickets from Taree to Robina on Tuesday.
According to the mother of one of the girls the bus they were travelling on arrived earlier than expected and the trio ran away.
A department spokesman said they could not say if there was an internal investigation into the incident, or whether steps would be put in place to stop a similar incident happening again.
“The Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) can confirm that the Department arranged and paid for temporary accommodation and transport for three teenage girls to travel back home to Queensland,” a statement from the department read.”
It went on to say the girls arrived “home” on Tuesday despite one parent explaining she did not see her little girl until Wednesday afternoon.
It is understood Ms Goward was “not impressed” by the department’s actions and called for a briefing following Bulletin reports. A SIMPLE treatment appears to offer a cheap alternative to IVF for women who are struggling with infertility. Scientists at the University of Adelaide found that those whose fallopian tubes are flushed with poppy seed oil are more likely to become pregnant.