LAKEWOOD – One woman is dead and two children are injured after a man struck them with a minivan in a parking lot Saturday morning, police said.
Around 11 a.m. at the Saint Vincent DePaul Food Pantry at 43 Madison Avenue, 40-year-old Abelino Landaverde-Ayala of Lakewood was making a K-turn in the parking lot when he mistakenly put his minivan in drive instead of reverse. Lakewood Police Capt. Gregory Staffordsmith said the car went forward and hit a 12 and a 13-year-old girl who were standing on the curb.
Sitting on the curb was 46-year-old Dilcia Maribell Guevara-Tabora of Lakewood who was also stuck by the minivan. Staffordsmith said she was taken to a local hospital where she died from her injuries. The two girls were taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune for treatment and are expected to make a full recovery.
Staffordsmith said there is no indication that the woman and the two girls were related or if they knew each other.
Landaverde-Ayala was issued a ticket for careless driving. More charges may follow, Staffordsmith said.
At this time, the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office and the Ocean County Sheriff’s Office along with Lakewood police are investigating the incident.
