Homeless people targeted by driver in pickup truck in separate hit-and-runs, Oklahoma police say

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Tulsa police on the hunt for hit-and-run suspect

Officers believe the same culprit is behind four separate instances of pedestrians being struck by a man in a truck

Two hit-and-run crashes that took place just hours apart Monday in Tulsa, Okla. -- leaving one person dead and three others injured -- were intentional and appeared to target homeless individuals, officials said.

Tulsa Police released photos Monday night of the white pickup truck involved in the attacks, which has black rims and a bed liner.

A photo released by Tulsa Police shows the white truck involved in 2 hit-and-runs. (Tulsa Police Department)

The first incident took place around 6:15 a.m., when police said the driver intentionally hit three people sleeping under a highway overpass in downtown Tulsa. One person died, and two others were injured, FOX23 reported.

Police said there is surveillance video of the driver circling back to target the group under the bridge.

Sgt. Steven Florea said witnesses reported the driver, described as a man in his 40s who was wearing a baseball cap, never hit his brakes or otherwise attempted to stop before hitting the group, the Tulsa World reported.

A photo released by Tulsa Police shows the white truck involved in two hit-and-run incidents. (Tulsa Police Department)

“There’s just no way this could have been an accident,” Florea said of the first crash. “He had to deliberately drive up over the curb, maneuver his vehicle between the telephone pole and retaining wall, and then accelerate to hit these guys.”

A survivor of the first attack, James Russell, told the Tulsa World he awoke to the sound of a crash, and the other two victims were sleeping side-by-side and had their feet toward the street when they were hit.

“The vehicle was driving across the concrete under the bridge, and as best as I could tell something kept it from hitting me [more directly],” Russell told the newspaper. “It all happened so fast, and I was stunned to wake up that way.”

In the second hit-and-run about 11 hours later, police say the same truck swerved to drive onto the curb where a woman was sitting, running over her legs.

The woman, who is also homeless, was hospitalized with injuries that were not thought to be life-threatening.

"She didn't know anything about it," Florea told FOX23. "She was just sitting there on the sidewalk and next thing she knew she was hit. She didn't get into any altercations with anybody, she didn't do anything to deserve this to happen to her."

Police are still attempting to identify the driver, and are asking people to be on the lookout for the mid-1980s or 1990s model small white truck.