Man Drove Into Uber At Concert, Killing Two

(RepublicanReport.org) – Tragedy struck at a New Year’s Eve concert in New York when a man slammed his vehicle head-on into another car, killing two people and leaving several others injured. Investigators are still trying to pin down the motive, but they reportedly found a suicide note when they searched the suspect’s hotel room.

The City of Rochester Police Department shared a briefing on Facebook in which Chief David Smith and Mayor Malik Evans offered the little information they had. Smith stated that a crash occurred on West Ridge Road at roughly 12:50 a.m. as police officers were helping a crowd disperse from the Kodak Center, where the concert was held. About 1,000 people attended the rock event, which featured the band Moe.

Smith stated that two officers were assisting concertgoers through a crosswalk in front of the venue when a Ford Expedition, going eastbound, plowed into a Mitsubishi Outlander that had exited a parking lot. The suspect’s car rammed the other vehicle through the crosswalk before slamming into two additional vehicles. The police chief noted that “a large fire” was “associated with the crash” and shared that the local fire department took nearly an hour to put out the blaze. The two passengers in the Outlander were killed in the collision, and that car’s driver went to the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries.

Several pedestrians avoided the accident, but the vehicles hit and injured three people, one of whom is reportedly in critical condition. The driver of the Expedition was also treated for life-threatening injuries, but he later died at around 8 p.m. The New York Post released a clip of the collision, which indicates that the Expedition may have been ablaze before it struck the Outlander. Responders found that the suspect’s car contained numerous gas cans, counting at least a dozen in and around the vehicle.

Relatives of the deceased suspect, Michael Avery, expressed surprise over the apparent murder-suicide but also shared that he may have suffered from undiagnosed bipolar disorder. Police Chief Smith asks that anyone with any additional information come forward, instructing locals to call 911 to share their potential leads.