Police: Sunnyvale crash suspect Isaiah Peoples targeted pedestrians he thought were Muslims
Sunnyvale police say Isaiah Joel Peoples, the Army veteran with Sacramento ties plowed through a group in a busy crosswalk Tuesday because he believed some of the people were Muslim.
“Based on our investigation, new evidence shows that the defendant intentionally targeted victims based on their race and his belief that they were of the Muslim faith,” Sunnyvale police Chief Pham Ngo said, according to San Francisco television station KPIX. “We understand that you will have many questions based on this announcement. However, we will not be releasing further information for now.”
The victims include a critically hurt and comatose 13-year-old girl with a life-threatening brain injury, according to court documents. A portion of her skull was removed to alleviate what was described in the documents as “severe brain swelling.” Several other victims continue to recover in area hospitals with broken arms and legs.
Sunnyvale officials stopped short of classifying the alleged attack as a hate crime – for now. But Santa Clara County Chief Assistant District Attorney Jay Boyarsky denounced the act in a statement and said Sunnyvale stands with the young victim.
“Even before our decision, I will say this: if this is a hate crime, there are far more than eight victims. Hate crimes are a brazen attack on our entire community.... We stand together on that street corner. We stand together in that young girl’s hospital room,” Boyarsky said. “This community has been hurt – but we are strong and steadfast and we will stand together against violence, ignorance, and hate.”
The news on the girl’s condition came as Peoples, the 34-year-old Army veteran who attended Sacramento State University faced a Santa Clara Superior Court judge in San Jose for the first time Friday at his arraignment on eight counts of attempted murder.
The charges outlined in a seven-page criminal complaint, state that he “personally used a deadly and dangerous weapon: a vehicle.”
Peoples remains in Santa Clara County custody. He is being held without bail pending a May 16 court date in San Jose.
Sunnyvale police had sought to determine why Peoples, a Department of Defense auditor believed to be driving meals to his waiting Bible study group, gunned his Toyota Corolla through the busy South Bay intersection and plowed through the eight people crossing there. But witnesses said Peoples repeatedly said, “Thank you, Jesus,” after the apparent road attack.
On Thursday, Boyarsky said there was “very appalling and disturbing evidence” that at least two of the group were targeted and suggested that the only reason hate crime charges have not yet been filed was because the matter was still being investigated, the television station reported.
In a Sacramento interview Thursday, Peoples’ mother described a son who struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder after he completed his tour of duty in Iraq, suffering seizures and blackouts. Leevell Peoples said she believed her son may have suffered such an episode while behind the wheel Tuesday night at El Camino Real and Sunnyvale Avenue.
“I’m sure he had a blackout from the PTSD,” Leevell Peoples told The Sacramento Bee Thursday. “He doesn’t even know what happened, I bet.”
But Sunnyvale police and Santa Clara County District Attorney’s prosecutors suspected Peoples intentionally ran over the group in the crosswalk, targeting them as they crossed the intersection.
This story was originally published April 26, 2019 at 2:53 PM.