Eduardo Moreno LA locomotive engineer derails train near Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy citing conspiracy theory involving government involvement in coronavirus pandemic.
Prosecutors have charged a locomotive engineer who worked at the Port of Los Angeles for allegedly derailing a locomotive near the Navy hospital ship USNS Mercy — citing a conspiracy theory that the government is covering up the vessel’s true purpose as it related to the COVID-19 pandemic, along with a purported government takeover, federal authorities said on Wednesday.
Eduardo ‘Eddie’ Moreno, 44, of San Pedro, California, is accused of ramming the locomotive at full speed through two barriers and the end of a track on Tuesday and coming to rest in a gravel lot about 250 yards away from the hospital ship, according to the Department of Justice.
Nobody was injured. A nearby California Highway Patrol officer witnessed the crash.
The officer reported seeing the train which is used to transport shipping cargo, ‘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.’
#BREAKING: Train engineer arrested on terrorism charges after allegedly running a locomotive off the tracks in an attempt to hit USNS Mercy. The Mercy is docked in the Port of LA to ease crowding at local hospitals during the #COVIDー19 pandemic. @Stu_Mundel reports from #Sky9 pic.twitter.com/IYnDUuQDat
— Mike Rogers (@MikeRogersTV) April 1, 2020
Wow 😯 Harbor area San Pedro waterfront someone stole a train 🚂 today pic.twitter.com/ZoezxJED6V
— 🇲🇽COME SEE US 🇺🇸 (@SeahawkValdez) March 31, 2020
Government planning take over…?
When confronted, Moreno allegedly told Los Angeles Port Police that he thought the Mercy was being used for something other than helping hospitals with the overflow of overflow of patients from hospitals dealing with coronavirus.
‘You only get this chance once. The whole world is watching,’ Moreno said, according to an arrest affidavit. ‘I had to. People don’t know what’s going on here. Now they will.’
He also allegedly told the FBI that he did it to ‘wake people up’
He said he ‘thought that the ship was suspicious and did not believe it was ‘what they say it’s for,’ according to the feds.
He was charged with one count of train-wrecking. The train engineer faces a maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars pursuant to what’s been described as a little-known train-wrecking statute.
Not immediately clear is how Moreno came to believe the conspiracy theory and his assertion that the government was planning of ‘taking over.’
