A car rushed on a group of people gathered in front of a nightclub in Los Angeles on Saturday, making at least 30 injured, and the driver, shot in the confusion that followed, was charged with voluntary violence, according to the police.
The driver was identified by the Los Angeles police (LAPD) as called Fernando Ramirez, 29, and is in a stable state at the hospital, where he underwent surgery. It is currently charged with voluntary violence with a potentially fatal weapon, said the spokesperson for LAPD Rosario Cervantes.
According to American media, he was denied entry into the nightclub, located in East Hollywood, just before the facts.
The video image exam has established that this is “an intentional act,” said LAPD captain Ben Fernandes, quoted by the Los Angeles Times.
The driver attacked by the crowd
The alleged assault took place on Saturday around 02:00 am (9:00 a.m. GMT). Videos published on social networks have shown panicked people in all directions, victims spread over a sidewalk stained with blood and others crying in the surroundings. According to other images, the driver was extracted from the vehicle and passed through the crowd.
“When the agents arrived, they found the driver being attacked by passers -by and found that he had been shot,” the police said in a statement. A spokesperson for the LAPD subsequently clarified that the author of the shot was still wanted.
“We have 30 victims, 18 women and 12 men in their twenties and the beginning of thirty,” said LAPD commander Lillian Carranza. According to the authorities, seven of the wounded are in critical condition and six in serious condition.
A group of people was lining up to enter the nightclub, near a truck selling tacos and valet service, when the car rushed to them, said Los Angeles firefighters, Adam Vangerpen, on TV channel ABC News.
“The window for the valet service and the tacos truck have been overthrown, and a large number of people were affected by the vehicle,” he said.
A heartbreaking tragedy
“It is a heartbreaking tragedy (…) The hearts of the inhabitants of Los Angeles is with all the victims affected this morning-an in-depth investigation into what happened is underway,” said the mayor of the second largest city in the United States, Karen Bass, in a statement.
At dawn on Saturday, a car with a bumper snatched and the door in parts was swept away by the local authorities in front of the Vermont Hollywood, a concert hall and a cute nightclub, and the ground was strewn with debris, noted an AFP photographer.
The place hosted a reggae and hip-hop music event from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m., depending on its website.
The area where the aggression took place close to very frequented places such as the Sunset Boulevard and the Walk of Fame, the sidewalk decorated with stars celebrating personalities from the show.
