Police on Monday continued to investigate violent clashes outside the East Hollywood Club, where 36 people were injured and suspected of a driver injured in the shooting.
Around 2am on Saturday, the driver plowed into the crowd outside a Vermont Hollywood nightclub, causing dozens of club fans, pedestrians and vendors to injure on the sidewalk outside.
After the crash, the driver was pulled out of the vehicle by a crowd and attacked, and one person pulled a gun and shot him, Los Angeles police said.
The gunman is still outstanding, but the suspicious driver (identified as Fernando Ramirez) has been taken into custody. Video from the scene shows Ramirez beat Bloody when police took him away.
This is what we know so far.
Who is the suspicious driver?
Ramirez, 29, was a patron of an abandoned club, but returned to the vehicle area around 2am, the Los Angeles Police Department said. The vehicle collided with street vendors and dozens of late-night club fans, causing multiple medical emergencies, sparking fear and rage among the crowd.
Bystanders tug Ramirez out of his car to attack him – the video showed him being punched and kicked – and at one point he was shot, LAPD officials said.
On Sunday, he was listed in stable condition after undergoing surgery, police said. He was also arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon with force that could cause serious bodily injury.
Before Saturday’s attack, Ramirez had already spent several months behind the bar.
On January 10, 2020, he was sentenced to four years in prison after finding he was found guilty of a battery that involved serious injuries, a civil rights violation and an intensive hate crime for attacking a black Whole Foods employee.
However, the January 2021 Court of Appeals reversed part of the verdict after the court found that recorded conversations with officers violated Ramirez’s Miranda’s rights. The appeals court overturned the intensive civil rights violations and hate crimes and invalidated the sentence, but upheld the aggravated battery conviction because it was “not affected by Miranda’s mistakes.”
In 2020, Ramirez was convicted of a 2019 battery by a police officer, resisted arrest and went to prison for 180 days.
In 2021, he was convicted of major physical injuries and two counts of assault resisting arrest, sentenced to 194 days in prison and on one year of probation. That same year, he pleaded guilty to physical injuries to his spouse and was sentenced to three years of probation in prison for 234 days.
Kimberly Ed, a spokesman for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, said he has another domestic battery charge, including a pending driving experience with Ramirez driving under his influence and a violation of the Orange County courtroom protection order, including violations of the protection order arising from the 2022 case.
Who is the suspicious gunman?
Police say someone pulled out a gun and shot him in the back after Ramirez was pulled out of a vehicle that had stayed on top of a food vendor’s equipment.
Officer Norma Eisenman, a spokesman for the LAPD, said those who shot Ramirez on Sunday remained common. Police described the suspected shooter as male, Latino, about 5 feet-7 and 150-170 pounds. He finally wore a light blue jersey with a blue Dodgers jacket, a “5” and blue jeans. He had gauges, a type of body jewelry, both on his ears and his goats. Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-8477.
Police have released images of the centre of a man believed to have shot a driver outside a nightclub.
(LAPD)
What happened to the victims?
At least 36 victims suffered injuries ranging from mild pain to serious fractures and lacerations. Several individuals were hit by the vehicle, and some were temporarily locked underneath. At least 23 people were hospitalized.
Given the size of the crowd, LAPD captain Ben Fernandez said the incident could easily swirl around the events of a massive number of casualties.
“To be honest, I think it’s a miracle,” Fernandez told KNBC-TV Channel 4.
One witness told KABC-TV Channel 7 that he saw dozens of people on the ground after the crash. Another said, “It’s like a movie.”
“You see the shoes flying, you see the changes, money, there’s a hot dog stand outside the bar… They were attacked,” the witness said.
Eduardo Lopez, who worked at his taco track down the street from a nightclub early Saturday, said he heard the crash and the screams that followed.
He told KNBC that “many people hurt” when he saw people running.
The club issued a statement following the incident.
“We are deeply saddened by the tragic incident that occurred outside the venue early on Saturday morning,” the Vermont Hollywood Club was published in a statement online and out the door. “We work closely with law enforcement to ensure that those responsible for this horrifying conduct are fully accountable.”
