LA nightclub crowd crash which left 30 injured may have been intentional, police say
Seven people are said to be in a critical condition, while at least 23 others were injured, after a car drove into a crowd outside the nightclub.
The fire department's Adam Van Gerpen told Sky's US partner NBC News that the car struck a taco cart before hitting people outside a nightclub at around 2am on Saturday.
Pictures from Santa Monica Boulevard, in East Hollywood, show a damaged grey Nissan Versa that had mounted the pavement.
According to NBC News, cameras in the area are still being canvassed, but the incident appears to have been intentional, according to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).
The force later named the driver as 29-year-old Fernando Ramirez. He has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon.
Officers "found the driver being assaulted by bystanders and determined he had sustained a gunshot wound", police said, adding that the wound was sustained after the collision.
The LAPD say the person suspected of inflicting the gunshot wound - a man described by police as a 5ft 9in, bald, Hispanic, and possibly carrying a silver revolver - fled on foot.
Sergeant Travis Ward said Ramirez had been taken to hospital for surgery, and it was currently unclear if he was intoxicated. He remains hospitalised and has not been booked into jail, the LAPD said.
A man who was inside the nightclub told NBC he heard a "loud bang" and a number of people ducked after hearing what they believed to be gunshots.
"We look out the club, and it's a car into the hole right there," he said.
"And then it's crazy, because people everywhere, laying down, unconscious, people, bleeding out and stuff."
The 14.3 mile (23km) boulevard spans nearly the entire city of Los Angeles, from West Hollywood to the Santa Monica Pier.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
43 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Watch: Olympic gold medallist ‘attacks' sprinter boyfriend at airport
Footage has emerged of Olympic gold medallist sprinter Sha'Carri Richardson allegedly attacking her Christian Coleman boyfriend at an airport. Richardson was detained last week in Seattle and a police report said footage appeared to show Coleman being shoved into a wall before an item was thrown at him. The 25-year-old was released following the incident after her boyfriend 'declined to be a victim,' the police report read. CCTV images, first obtained by TMZ, appear to show Richardson slamming Coleman into a wall and bumping into him after the first altercation. The argument continues as the pair bump into each other as he walks towards a checkpoint at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Port of Seattle Police said Richardson claimed the argument was started over a pair of headphones. 'Richardson advised she did not assault him in any way and the dispute was only a verbal argument,' police documents said. The 2024 silver medallist in the 100m and a gold medal winner in the 4x100m relay was arrested and charged with fourth-degree assault before she was released without further action. Coleman later said: 'For me personally, I feel like it was a sucky situation all round. I don't feel like she should have been arrested. 'I'm the type of guy who's in the business of extending grace, and mercy and love. She's just had a lot of things going on, lot of emotions and forces going on inside of her that not only I can't understand, but nobody can. 'She's one-of-one. I know it's been a tough journey for her this year. But she's gonna bounce back because she's the best female athlete in the world. I see it every day. She's gonna be just fine. She's gonna be good, and I'm gonna be good too.' Richardson will run in the 100m at the World Championships next month but missed out on qualifying for the 200m by one-hundredth of a second. She finished fourth in her heat in Oregon last week and declined to speak to reporters afterwards.
Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Irate WNBA coach lashes out over 'dumb' and 'dangerous' sex toy pranks as two more are thrown in Chicago
Amid the disturbing trend of sex toys being thrown onto the court at WNBA games, a head coach is now calling on fans - and the purported crypto traders behind the 'pranks' - to knock it off. Beginning last week, a series of incidents at women's basketball games across the league saw green dildos being thrown onto the court. But the incidents continued, and now appear to be tied to a cryptocurrency 'meme coin' scheme. Regardless of the motivation or those behind it, Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve spoke to reporters about the incidents - saying that those responsible should be held accountable. 'I just want to comment on... this has been going on for centuries. The sexualization of women, this is the latest version of that. It's not funny,' said Reeve. She continued: 'It should not be a butt of jokes on any radio show, or in print, or in any comments. — Shelby Swanson (she/they) (@shelbymswanson) August 7, 2025 Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said the league needs to hold fans accountable who have begun to throw sex toys onto the court at WNBA games in recent days Purple dildo — John Armstrong (@msmcb02) August 8, 2025 'The sexualization of women is what's used to hold women down and this is no different. 'This is just the latest story, and we should write about it in that way. These people that are doing this should be held accountable. 'We're not the butt of the joke. They're the problem, and we need to take action.' Hours after Reeve made her comments, yet another incident saw two sex toys thrown on a court at WinTrust Arena in Illinois for a game between the Chicago Sky and the Atlanta Dream. According to FrontOfficeSports' Colin Salao, one object was thrown and fell behind the dream bench. While security rushed to find that perpetrator, another sex toy - which wasn't green - was then thrown onto the court. Video showed the two suspects were surrounded by security after the incident and they were questioned. Security told Salao that they were released and 'free to go' because there was not proof they were responsible. After two dildos were thrown at the Chicago Sky game, two people were surrounded by security by the doors at Wintrust Arena. They were questioned about the incident. They appeared to be in good spirits, even taking selfies at one point while apprehended. They walked out of the… — Colin Salao (@colincsalao) August 8, 2025 Reeve, who coached Team USA to Olympic gold in Paris in 2024, is just the latest in the league to speak out about these incidents. Players - like Indiana Fever star Sophie Cunningham - demanded that the action stop out of fear for the safety of the athletes. Cunningham posted on X back on August 1, 'stop throwing dildos on the court... you're going to hurt one of us.' Five days later, Cunningham was then hit with a flying dildo. She re-tweeted her post, saying, 'this did NOT age well.' She's not the only player to have spoken out against this. 'It's super disrespectful,' Sky center Elizabeth Williams told reporters last Friday. 'I don't really get the point of it. It's really immature. Whoever is doing it needs to grow up.' One arrest has been made in connection to these incidents. 18-year-old Kaden Lopez was booked into jail in Arizona on suspicion of disorderly conduct, assault and public display of explicit sexual material following the game between the Phoenix Mercury and the Connecticut Sun. Lopez allegedly apologized for the act, saying it was 'stupid prank that was trending on social media.' It is also alleged in court documents that he bought the toy on Monday - just one day before the game.
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Soldiers given medals for tackling gunman who shot five at Georgia base
Half a dozen soldiers at a Georgia army base have been awarded medals for tackling an armed assailant accused of shooting five people and then giving aid to their wounded colleagues, three of whom have now been released from hospital. Sgt Quornelius Radford, 28, who was assigned to Fort Stewart, is accused of using a personal handgun to shoot five of his fellow soldiers on Wednesday before he was quickly tackled by other troops. Army officials would not speculate about a motive. 'The fast action of these soldiers under stress and under trauma and under fire absolutely saved lives from being lost,' the army secretary, Dan Driscoll, said at a news briefing on Thursday morning. 'One of the soldiers tackled the person, so just think about this – they were unarmed and ran at and tackled an armed person who they knew was actively shooting their buddies, their colleagues, their fellow soldiers. 'Another soldier jumped on top of the person to subdue them until federal law enforcement was able to arrive.' According to CNN, the soldier who was the first to subdue the suspect has been named by the army as Staff Sgt Aaron Turner, with Master Sgt Justin Thomas helping to keep him restrained. Four other soldiers tended to the wounded, according to Driscoll. One of them, Staff Sgt Melissa Taylor, said she was in her office when she heard a fellow soldier 'yelling that a gunshot went off'. After peering into the hallway and seeing smoke, she noticed a soldier lying on the ground. 'I immediately sprinted over to the soldier and started rendering aid. He had been shot. And so I was rendering aid to him, while the first sergeant started calling medics,' she told reporters. The six soldiers were awarded the meritorious service medal for 'outstanding non-combat meritorious achievement or service' on Thursday. The shooting occurred in the 2nd armored brigade combat team area, where Radford worked. Brig Gen John Lubas, commander of the third infantry division and Fort Stewart-Hunter army airfield, said two of the five soldiers who were shot remain hospitalized, said in comments reported by CNN. 'One solider remains as an in-patient at Winn Army [community hospital] right here on Fort Stewart. She's doing very well, in high spirits,' Lubas said. 'Of course, she's got a little bit of a road to recovery. We're hopeful she may be released as early as this weekend but that will just depend on how things heal up over the next couple of days.' Another solider who was more seriously injured is recovering at Savannah Memorial community hospital, about 45 miles from the base, the general said. 'She's got a little bit longer road to recovery. The doctors are very positive, but I think it's going to take her a big longer to recover. They're very hopeful she's going to make a complete recovery.' The other three shooting survivors were released yesterday, according to Lubas. The Army has not identified them nor the nature of their injuries. According to the New York Times, Radford sent a text message to his aunt on Wednesday morning which said that he 'loved everybody, and that he'll be in a better place because he was about to go and do something'. Radford's father told the Times he hadn't noticed anything unusual about his son's behavior recently, and didn't know what might have led him to attack his fellow soldiers. Radford remains in custody.
