Texas police are investigating a fatal accident that left two children dead and eight others injured when a Texas drag race driver slammed into spectators on Saturday afternoon.
Police said that while the drag race event was underway, a driver “lost control and left the runway, crashing into parked vehicles and striking spectators who were observing the races.”
The Kerrville Police Department said in a statement on Saturday that a 6-year-old boy died at the scene after a drag race vehicle hit him. An 8-year-old boy who was also struck was transported to a hospital and was later pronounced dead.
Officials noted that four adults were transported to hospitals by air ambulances. Those victims ranged in age between 26-years-old and 46-years-old and included two females and two males. Two people were listed in critical condition, one in stable condition and one whose condition was not known.
Two children, a 4-year-old boy and a 3-month-old girl, were also taken to hospital “for precautionary evaluations.”
Two people were released from the scene after they were treated.
In a Facebook video posted on Saturday, Ross Dunagan, the owner and founder of Flyin Diesel Performance & Offroad, which organized the event, acknowledged that there had been “an accident,” that it was being handled and that the race was being shut down. He asked that viewers pray for everyone involved in the incident.
It was not immediately clear why the driver lost control of the vehicle and no details about the identity of the driver or their conditions were mentioned in the police’s statement. Police, however, noted that the investigation was “active and ongoing.”
The drag race event took place in Kerrville, Texas, which is located about roughly 65 miles northwest of San Antonio. The event is billed as a “an action packed, family-friendly day of all out No Prep Drag Racing” where “some of the fastest drag cars compete for over $8000 in total prizes,” according to the Kerrville Convention and Visitors Bureau.