Four children killed as vehicle smashes through Illinois building, police say

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Four children were killed and several others injured when a car smashed through a building during an afterschool programme on Monday afternoon in a town outside of Springfield, Illinois, police said. Officers responded at about 3:20 pm to calls about a vehicle fatally hitting three people outside, ramming through the building and then hitting another person before exiting the other side, Chatham Police Department Deputy Chief Scott Tarter said.

Those killed were between the ages of four and 18, Illinois State Police said in an emailed statement. Several other people were hurt and taken to hospitals, police said. The driver, who was uninjured, was the sole occupant of the vehicle, and was taken to a hospital for evaluation, Tarter said. Illinois State Police haven't said if the driver was arrested or taken into custody.

The building and facilities house YNOT Outdoors, which holds afterschool programmes and summer camps, according to its website. "I am horrified and deeply saddened by the deaths of children and numerous injuries in Chatham this afternoon," Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said in a statement. "My heart is heavy for these families and the unimaginable grief they're experiencing -- something that no parent should ever have to endure."

He said his office was monitoring the situation and was ready to lend support. Chatham is a small town of about 15,000 people just outside Springfield, Illinois. It wasn't immediately known what led up to the crash or whether it was intentional. The deaths in Illinois happened two days after 11 people were killed in Vancouver, British Columbia, when a car ploughed through a crowded street during a Filipino heritage festival -- one of the most recent examples of people driving vehicles into groups of people across the globe.

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