Driver slams into crowd outside Hollywood nightclub, critically injuring 7 and wounding more than 20 others

Richard Winton, Laurence Darmiento, Rebecca Ellis and Malia Mendez, Los Angeles Times on Jul 19, 2025

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LOS ANGELES — A patron who had been tossed out of a popular East Hollywood nightclub early Saturday later smashed his car into a crowd outside the venue, injuring 30 people, including seven critically — before being pulled out of his vehicle and shot, police said.

The gray Nissan Versa hit a valet stand and taco stand that typically draws hungry clubgoers, tossing people into the air. In the aftermath, a video shows the driver being dragged from the vehicle, police said.

A law enforcement source said witnesses told authorities the man driving the car had been ejected from the club earlier because he was seemingly intoxicated and disruptive.

The source, not authorized to discuss the probe, said the man left, got into his car and made a U-turn and drove onto the sidewalk before smashing into the taco stand and valet podium and plowing into the crowd.

On a typical weekend night, the street outside The Vermont is thrumming with clubgoers filtering in and out of the venue.

“It was a large chaotic scene,” said Adam VanGerpen, a spokesperson with the L.A. City Fire Department, who arrived at the crash site around 3 a.m. “People were just waiting in line, getting some tacos and going into the club.”

The driver drove to the corner of Santa Monica and Vermont around 2 a.m. and then drove halfway down the sidewalk, slamming into the crowd, police said.

Authorities immediately set up red, green and yellow triage tents for 30 injured people, most of whom were taken to the hospital, VanGerpen said.

“When officers arrived, they found the driver had been assaulted by bystanders and determined he sustained a gunshot wound,” police said. He was taken to a hospital along with 23 of the clubgoers. The driver’s condition is unknown.

The suspected gunman was seen fleeing westbound from Vermont Avenue. He was described by police as a Latino male, 5 feet 9, 180 pounds, wearing a blue jersey and possibly armed with a silver revolver.

Some 124 firefighters and paramedics responded to the chaotic scene in the 4600 block of Santa Monica Boulevard.

Jewelry vendor Jennifer Garcia, 53, said that when she arrived around 3 a.m. to set up for the block’s weekend flea market, she saw the driver’s car in the middle of the sidewalk and had to move her stall from its usual spot outside the Vermont.

“I usually am right in front of the club,” said Garcia. “But I came and I saw all these fire trucks and I was like, what is wrong?”

By Saturday morning, the street had returned to normal with the flea market taking over some of the block — but telltale signs of the crash remained, including a lone woman’s shoe and Lime e-bike that had been knocked over.

“This is a heartbreaking tragedy. I want to thank the more than 100 LAFD and LAPD personnel who responded to the scene to help to save lives,” Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement.