A man from New Castle, Delaware, was charged with second-degree murder after a fatal crash in Newark that killed a University of Delaware student on April 29. The crash also left eight others injured.
Gordon Turner, 22, was behind the wheel of a stolen U-Haul van when he fled from Newark police on Tuesday afternoon. Police did not pursue Turner, but he lost control of the vehicle, hitting two pedestrians and several cars on Main Street.
One of the pedestrians, a 24-year-old University of Delaware student, was pronounced dead at the scene, just west of Haines Street. A second student, also 24 years old, was seriously injured. Turner faces multiple felony charges, including second-degree murder and first-degree assault.
Authorities later discovered that Turner was also wanted in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. Police found a gun in the stolen U-Haul.
Turner had been driving the U-Haul, which had been reported as an “unauthorized use vehicle” after it was not returned as agreed. When police spotted the van in a Newark shopping center, Turner fled the scene.
In response to the tragedy, University of Delaware President Dennia Assanis and Vice President for Student Life Jose-Luis Riera issued a statement expressing their condolences to the victims’ families and those impacted by the incident. “This is a terrible tragedy. We speak for the entire University in offering our condolences to the families, friends, and classmates of the victims,” they said.
Three individuals were treated at the scene and released, while three others were transported to a nearby hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
