1 dead, 14 injured after car crashes into New Mexico thrift store

One person was killed and 14 others were injured ON Tuesday when a car crashed through a New Mexico thrift store.

The incident occurred shortly after 10 a.m. when a 69-year-old driver mistakenly pressed the accelerator instead of the brake while trying to park and drove their Ford Explorer through the front of a Savers store in Las Cruces, police said.

The vehicle plowed through the glass wall entrance and came to a stop in the back of the store.

Elijah Sanchez, an employee at Savers, told KFOX 14 people were “screaming in pain” after the crash.

“It was pretty chaotic. I didn’t know what to think, but I just knew that the best thing to do was to try and go help the people who needed help,” Sanchez said.

The person killed was identified by Las Cruces Police as 67-year-old Pamela Kaye Nelson.

Ten of the injured people were taken to different local hospitals, police added. The other victims were treated at the scene by Las Cruces Fire Department personnel. No other information about the injured persons’ conditions was released.

The crash remains under investigation, Las Cruces Police said. No charges have been announced.

A similar deadly crash at an Apple Store near Boston in 2022 led to charges of second-degree murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon for the driver, Bradley Rein. He is currently on trial.

Las Cruces is about 50 miles north of El Paso, Tex., near the U.S.-Mexico border.