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The U.S. Department of Justice has charged a California man after he allegedly tried to run a train “at full speed off the end of the rail tracks” right near the U.S. Naval Ship Mercy (USNS), the hospital ship that recently ported in Los Angeles.
The details:
- Eduardo Moreno, 44, of San Pedroa, California, faces charges of one count of train wrecking from the incident, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
- There were no injuries.
- The Mercy ship was not harmed or damaged.
What happened:
- According to the criminal complaint, Moreno alleged in two interviews with federal officials “that he intentionally derailed and crashed the train near the Mercy.”
- Moreno allegedly ran the train off the tracks and broke through barriers before stopping it 250 yards near where the Mercy was docked, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
- A California Highway Patrol officer saw the train crash. He took Moreno into custody.
- The officer said he saw “the train smash into a concrete barrier at the end of the track, smash into a steel barrier, smash into a chain-link fence, slide through a parking lot, slide across another lot filled with gravel, and smash into a second chain-link fence.”
- According to the officer, Moreno made a bunch of statements, including: “You only get this chance once. The whole world is watching. I had to. People don’t know what’s going on here. Now they will.”
- In a second interview with the FBI, Moreno said “he did it out of the desire to ‘wake people up,’” according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
- Moreno reportedly said he thought the ship was suspicious and he didn’t think “the ship is what they say it’s for.”