A harrowing incident Monday night in West Palm Beach, Florida had members of an LGBTQ+ running club fleeing for their lives.

Members of the group told police at the scene that a man driving a dark SUV attempted to run them down multiple times at high velocity, sending the runners scrambling through trees looking for cover in a local park.

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“This car is flying at you. I have never seen a car fly that fast right towards me in my entire life,” said Rudolph Galindo, treasurer for the Night Runners club.

Galindo recalled how he approached the man earlier in the parking lot to ask if he was there for the group’s twice-weekly run.

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“He seemed aggravated that I was asking him if he was there for the running group. So, he said no. I just stepped away,” Galindo told ABC 25 News.

Shortly after, the man attacked, Galindo said.

“He got into his car, pulled out, accelerating, pedal to the metal and coming right at me where I was standing,” Galindo said. 

He and 40 other terrified runners fled for their lives.

“Everybody came behind this tree that’s right here and also this banyan tree right here to be in a safe spot,” Galindo recounted.

Tires screeching, the man tore through the parking lot toward the group again.

Cell phone video captures the charcoal grey Ford Bronco speeding through the lot as runners scramble for safety around a large banyan tree in the park.

“We were behind a tree, but at this point, it seemed like he didn’t have any limits of what he was wanting to do or willing to do,” Galindo said.

Their attacker sped through the lot a third time, jumping a curb onto the lawn. Muddy tire tracks chart his path racing over the grass and onto an adjacent boulevard, where he ducked into traffic heading downtown.

West Palm Beach police issued an alert for the SUV matching the description that witnesses gave.

Police say the man fled a mile and a half down Okeechobee Boulevard and was spotted parking in a garage. They found him removing the vehicle’s license plate, Fox 29 News reports.

Cops took the alleged attacker, Ihab Mustafa El Mahmoud, 43, into custody without incident.

West Palm Beach Police charged El Mahmoud with two counts of aggravated assault with intent to commit a felony, and one count of reckless driving.

Prosecutors could enhance the charges under Florida’s hate crime laws, as investigators try to identify a motive for the terrifying attack. 

Galindo said he’s not sure what his attacker’s motive was, and if he was just scaring the LGBTQ+ runners or if he really wanted to hurt someone.

“It’s difficult to say. He certainly had the ability to do so, and I don’t think he would have been upset if he did hit somebody,” Galindo said.

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