A hit-and-run car crash that killed three and injured one outside a Black-owned gay bar in Chicago early Sunday morning “appears to be intentional,” police said in their latest news conference addressing the incident.
But Brenden Deenihan, the Chicago Police Department chief of detectives, said in the update on the attack Monday that officials aren’t investigating the attack as a hate crime yet.
“We don’t have any evidence to support that someone was trying to harm these individuals because of their race, religion, etcetera,” Deenihan said.
He also detailed the events that led up to the hit-and-run.
“It appears there was an argument inside that establishment, it spills out onto the street, and then there’s an ongoing altercation at that point,” Deenihan described. “Then you can see that this individual gets into the car and then commits this horrific act.”
Officials recovered the car they say was involved four blocks from the Jeffery Pub, but they don’t have a suspect in custody.
Deenihan called out to the community for help in finding the driver.
“You can’t charge a car with a crime, obviously,” he said. “We need to know who the driver was, and we know the people out there know that.”
Deenihan said the department still has “a lot of work to do” and that investigators are looking forward to bringing “some solace to some of these families.”
