Police were searching Wednesday for a man who crashed his car into a homeless encampment in Santa Rosa, killing a woman and injuring a man before fleeing the scene on foot.
Santa Rosa police said authorities received calls Tuesday night reporting an argument, possible shooting and related vehicle collision, KPIX-TV reported.
Firefighters extricated a woman who was trapped under the car. She died at the scene, Santa Rosa Police Sgt. Christopher Mahurin said.
Mahurin said the driver and passengers of the vehicle fled and hadn’t been located.
An injured man was rushed to the Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, though his injuries were from an altercation with the driver before the crash, Mahurin told the Press Democrat.
Investigators determined there was a heated argument between two men at the encampment with about 15 tents lining a road. One of the men got into a vehicle and began driving southbound but then drove the car across the eastbound lanes of Roberts Avenue, crashing against the woman and a tent.
Police were in the process of determining if the fatal collision was accidental or intentional.
Officials have released no information on the driver and say the woman’s identity will be made public once her family has been notified.
Residents of the encampment stood vigil Tuesday night, many of them crying, as police investigated.
The crash comes a little over a week after authorities say a 71-year-old man drove into a group of people on a downtown San Diego sidewalk, including some camped in tents. That wreck killed Randy Ferris, 65; Walter Jones, 61, and Rodney Diffendal, 40. Seven other people were injured, three of them seriously.
Craig Martin Voss stopped after the crash and tried to help the victims, police said. Voss pleaded not guilty Tuesday to gross vehicular manslaughter.
