Prosecutors will file new hate crime charges against a former U.S. army sharpshooter accused of eight counts of attempted murder after police said he deliberately plowed his car into pedestrians at a California crosswalk last month, officials said Thursday.

Two hate crime allegations will be filed against Isaiah Joel Peoples, 34, a veteran of the Iraq war, Santa Clara District Attorney's Office spokesperson Sean Webby said.

He showed no remorse after his car intentionally plowed at high speed into a group of people in a crosswalk on April 24 in the Silicon Valley suburb of Sunnyvale before hitting a tree, police Chief Phan Ngo said.

Evidence shows Peoples intentionally targeted the victims based on their race and his belief that they were of the Muslim faith, Ngo said

Two children were among the eight people injured when a car plowed into pedestrians last month in Silicon Valley. (KGO-TV via AP)

.A nine-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl were among the injured. The girl remains in a coma with severe brain trauma.

Peoples' mother said her son has struggled with PTSD.

A hearing in the case was set for later Thursday in San Jose. He could enter a plea.

Family and friends described Peoples as quiet and polite and expressed shock at his involvement.

His mother, Leevell Peoples of Sacramento, said Peoples had "a bad episode" with PTSD in 2015, for which he was hospitalized, and has told her that he had been taking medication regularly since then.

She could not imagine any situation in which her son would deliberately crash into innocent people other than something related to the PTSD.

Peoples was honourably discharged from the army, and police were investigating the PTSD report, Ngo said. Peoples has no criminal record.