Three people were killed and at least three others were critically injured Tuesday evening when a white SUV drove onto a sidewalk near the North Hollywood Metro station in Los Angeles and struck a group of street vendors and pedestrians, authorities said.
The crash was reported at about 5:55 p.m. local time in the 5300 block of Lankershim Boulevard, near Chandler Boulevard, outside the entrance to the station, which serves the Metro B Line subway and the G Line busway. The SUV struck at least five pedestrians and came to rest beneath the blue canopy of a food vendor's tent, scattering debris across the sidewalk.
The three people killed were women ages 40, 53 and 69, ABC News reported, citing police. Two other pedestrians were taken to hospitals in critical condition, as was the driver, a man in his 60s who had to be freed from the vehicle. Witnesses told local television station ABC7 that two of those killed were food vendors who had worked outside the station for years.
The cause of the crash was not immediately clear. Los Angeles Police Department Capt. Warner Castillo said tests were underway to determine whether the driver was under the influence of any substances, and investigators have not ruled out the possibility that the crash was deliberate. Police said the driver was trying to avoid another car that was driving "legally and safely," according to CNN affiliate KCBS/KCAL.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said detectives would examine video from nearby businesses and the Metro station frame by frame as they worked to establish what happened. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement that both street vendors and pedestrians were among those struck. One Metro entrance remained closed on Tuesday night, but the bus and subway stations otherwise stayed open, a Metro spokesperson said.
