‘DEVASTATING’

Van Strikes and Kills Woman at North Carolina Race, Injures Four Others: Troopers

“The Bear” foot race was about to begin when Julie Holderness and other pedestrians were hit.

Just as “The Bear” foot race was about to begin at North Carolina’s Grandfather Mountain on Thursday evening, a woman was struck and killed by a van and several others were injured, highway troopers said. The local highway patrol identified the victim as Julie Holderness, 72, who died after treatment in a local hospital. Two others injured were also hospitalized. The driver, James Russell Deni, 80, was charged with unsafe movement and misdemeanor death by vehicle, officials said. The driver appears to have hit the gas instead of the brake, according to troopers, and plowed into the crowd. “(The driver) wasn’t trying to hurt anybody,” runner Cory Wilkinson told WSOC-TV. “Something went wrong. No one really knows what happened at his point.” The race was canceled, but the rest of the three-day games will continue, organizers announced on Facebook.