A man plowed his vehicle into a crowd of people waiting to enter a Los Angeles nightclub early Saturday, injuring 23 people and getting shot by a bystander in the ensuing chaos.
Police said they received a call around 2 a.m. regarding an assault with a deadly weapon and traveled to the scene outside the club in the Rampart Village area of Los Angeles.
There, they found the suspected driver of the car-ramming being attacked by bystanders, one of whom managed to shoot the driver before fleeing the scene.
"During the course of this chaotic situation, there were about 23 people in total transported for a various number of injuries (to local hospitals)," said LAPD Public Information Officer Jeffrey Lee.
Lee said the condition of the driver was still unknown, but added "thankfully as of right now, nobody has died from this."
Lee said that it was not immediately clear what caused the man to plow into the crowd, but that officers had been made aware of a potential dispute between the driver and patrons inside the nightclub and that the man had been ejected from the establishment prior to the ramming episode.
"The primary focus is going to be what led to this," Lee said. "What caused this driver to plow into this crowd? Was it intentional, was it not intentional? Was it DUI related? Was it personal? We don't know, but detectives will look at all those angles."
Lee said police are looking for the suspected shooter, described as a Hispanic male, about 5 feet 9 inches tall, 180 pounds and bald. He said the man is to be considered armed and dangerous.
Fire Capt. Adam VanGerpen told the Associated Press that a line of people — the majority female — were waiting to enter the nightclub, the Vermont Hollywood, when they were struck by the Nissan Versa that also hit a taco truck and valet stand.
"The valet podium was taken out, the taco truck was taken out, and then a large number of people were impacted by the vehicle," said VanGerpen, a public information officer.
The Associated Press also reported that a fight had broken out outside of the club prior to the incident, citing Maria Medrano, who was operating a food cart outside. Shortly after, she said, the car hit a group of people standing outside.
Medrano told The Associated Press from the hospital that she then heard what appeared to be gunshots.
"Everyone started running," she said.
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