Two dead and 19 injured after cars crash into pedestrians in Nebraska

One person was sent to hospital with life-threatening injuries

Two people are dead and at least 19 injured after a two-car crash into a crowd of pedestrians in Lincoln, Nebraska (Journal Star/screengrab)

Nebraska authorities reported that two people were killed and at least 19 were injured after two cars crashed into a crowd of pedestrians late Sunday night.

The two people who were reported dead from the incident were both travelling in one of the vehicles involved in the crash that occurred at around 10.45pm on Sunday, the Lincoln Police Department said in a Facebook post.

Of the 19 hurt, one was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries.

The crash during a busy Memorial Day weekend in Lincoln occurred after a vehicle driving westbound near 52nd and O streets collided with another car turning left to head eastbound. After one car T-boned the other, they plowed into a crowd of pedestrians, Lincoln Police Captain Max Hubka told CNN early Monday.

“We are investigating a fatality accident near 52nd and O St. O St from 48th to 56th Streets is shut down in both directions and will be shut down for the next few hours. Please avoid the area,” the police department said in a post on thier Facebook page.

Capt Hubka told the Lincoln Journal Star in an interview that the two people who died in the crash were two young women, ages 20 and 22, noting that both women were occupants of one of the cars involved in the two-vehicle crash.

The event was quickly labelled a mass casualty event, the Capt Hubka told the local news outlet, after several people were struck when the two cars came barrelling through the parking lot of a Barnes & Noble.

The group of bystanders in the parking lot in the Nebraksa city had reportedly been gathering to watch the annual Memorial Day weekend cruise night.

Hosted by the Midwest Association of Car Enthusiasts, the so-called “Americruise” draws drivers from the surrounding area to parade their cars down the streets of Lincoln in an event that is viewed as the official kickoff to summer.

According to the Lincoln Journal Star, this is the second time that a car cruise event in the O Street area of Lincoln has turned fatal. In July 2000, a 39-year-old woman was killed while watching the Americruise cars pass near 35th and O streets when a car, not involved in the parade, drove over the curb and struck her while she died trying to protect a child from the veering car.