A man accused of intentionally plowing his car through a crowd in Los Angeles over the weekend has been charged with 37 counts of attempted murder, officials announced Tuesday.
The suspect — 29-year-old Fernando Ramirez — has also been charged with 37 counts of assault with a deadly weapon, “the deadly weapon being the car,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said during a press briefing announcing the filing of the charges.
The counts correspond to the 37 victims in the incident, which unfolded around 2 a.m. local time Saturday outside the music venue The Vermont in East Hollywood, Hochman said.
Among the victims, eight suffered “great bodily injury,” such as serious fractures and lacerations, the district attorney said.
“We understand that this brazen act has shaken the community,” Hochman said during the press briefing. “As alleged, and we will prove in a court of law, when he drove that car onto that sidewalk, he aimed it at a whole sea of pedestrians that were in front of him on the sidewalk at 2 a.m. Many of them were at the taco truck, or they were waiting at the valet, or they were waiting to get into the club.”
Over the weekend, senior investigators told ABC News the crash occurred after the suspect had been removed from the nightclub. He then intentionally drove his vehicle onto a sidewalk and into the crowd gathered outside the club, police said.
During Tuesday’s briefing, Los Angeles Fire Department Interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva described the scene as “incredibly chaotic and distressing.”
“It’s truly a miracle no one was killed,” Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell said.
When the vehicle became disabled, bystanders in the crowd dragged the driver outside the car and began to physically assault him, according to police. At some point during the altercation, police said a man shot the driver once in the lower back then fled the scene on foot.
After being treated at a hospital, Ramirez was initially booked into jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, police said. He is currently being held without bail and is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday, Hochman said. If convicted as charged, the suspect faces multiple sentences of life in state prison.
Ramirez has an “extensive history of violence,” McDonnell said. At the time of the incident, he was out on bail in connection with a 2022 domestic violence case in Orange County, according to Hochman, who declined further comment on the matter at this time.
The unidentified person who shot the driver remains at large, police said Tuesday.
“We understand the emotions involved, but when the threat had ended and the suspect was no longer actively harming others, the use of deadly force was both unlawful and dangerous to everybody present,” McDonnell said. “Our detectives are working diligently to identify and apprehend the shooter.”
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