Madman Runs Down Pedestrians in San Francisco

Could this be the next local terrorist attack?

As many as 14 people were injured this afternoon by a motorist who drove around San Francisco running them down before he was arrested, authorities said.

Seven of those injured were in critical condition, police and firefighters said.

Authorities have identified the man who was arrested as Ohmeed Aziz Popal, who has an address in Ceres.

Authorities said they believe Popal was the same driver who ran over a 55-year-old man walking in a bicycle lane in Fremont, at Fremont Boulevard near Ferry Lane, just after noon. That victim died.

Popal was arrested at a Walgreens at Spruce and California streets.

I wonder what the origin is of the name Ohmeed Aziz Popal? I don't know about you, but this sounds a lot like the case of the Tarheel Terrorist who tried to run down students at the University of North Carolina.

Having recently walked the streets of San Francisco, there certainly would be no shortage of potential victims since pedestrian traffic is heavy in that town. I sounds like we're fortunate that it wasn't worse than it was.

UPDATE: One dead and 13 hurt.

UPDATE2: The attacks took place is a largely Jewish neighborhood in SF, including one which occurred right in front of the Jewish Community Center. This is starting to look a lot like the Seattle attack. The mayor of SF is doing his best to avoid any "unmentionables", like Islam, hate crime, or anti-Semitism.

I've been looking for a report on the incident in the mainstream media and so far can't find it. It wasn't mentioned on either the local news in LA that I watched or on the NBC Nightly News. they were all too busy pointing out Bush's faults on this first anniversary of Katrina.