One Killed, 11 Injured in Los Angeles Driving Attack

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles police arrested a man Sunday on suspicion of intentionally driving into crowds enjoying boardwalk popular with tourists, killing an Italian woman and injuring 11 others.

Nathan Campbell, 38, was booked for investigation of murder and remains jailed on $1 million bail, police said.

He turned himself about two hours after the attack that occurred at around 6 p.m. Saturday at the Venice Beach boardwalk, a cultural hub in a part of Los Angeles known for its circus-meets-gritty-city eccentricities. Investigators don't yet have a motive.

A coroner's investigator told City News Service that the dead woman is 32-year-old Alice Gruppioni of Italy.

The victim died at a hospital a few hours after the crash at the Venice Beach boardwalk, Los Angeles police Lt. Andy Neiman said.

Police said another victim was critically hurt, two were in serious condition and others were treated for less serious injuries.

Security video shows a man parking his black car alongside the seaside boardwalk as the sun sank, surveying the idyllic scene for several minutes before getting back into the car and speeding into the crowd. It shows hundreds of people walking lazily or sitting at cafes before the black car suddenly appears and sends them scrambling wildly.

Witnesses reported a horrifying aftermath.

"There was people kind of stumbling around, blood dripping down their legs looking confused not knowing what had happened, people screaming," said 35-year-old Louisa Hodge, who was out enjoying the day on the Venice Beach boardwalk with a friend visiting from San Diego. "It was blocks and blocks of people just strewn across the sidewalk."

Firefighters combed the chaotic crowd, finding 12 people wounded and taking 10 of them to the hospital, fire and police officials said.

According to the security video and witness accounts, a man with a baseball cap, gray shirt and white pants parked next to the Cadillac Hotel, twice walking out to the boardwalk before getting into the Dodge Avenger and accelerating, swerving around yellow poles meant to prevent cars from getting into the pedestrian-only area and onto the boardwalk.

"I heard a big 'boom, boom,' like the sound of someone going up and down the curb, it was super loud," said Alex Hagan, 22, who was working the desk at the Cadillac Hotel and watched the scene unfold from the start.

The man knocked over two mannequins then started hitting people, swerving from side to side and often running straight into them.

The crowd of hundreds of couples, families and children who had been sitting at cafes, shopping and walking lazily along in shorts and sandals were sent on a mad scramble to get themselves and others out of the way and to rush to help those who were hit.

The car hit at least three vendors who were sitting at their sales booths, video showed.

It hit two women who appeared to be in their 60s, Hagan said.

Many ran after the car, screaming and cursing as it sped away, he said.

Hodge said she and her friend, 31-year-old Ashley Taylor, had made note of the numbers walking along the seaside.

"It was a really nice day, there were tons of people out, in fact, we were talking about how packed it was, because we were having a hard time getting through all the people," said Hodge.

She and her friend stepped into a store to buy a couple of hats, a move that may have saved their lives, and stepped out to see the aftermath, as emergency crews arrived and started putting victims on tarps.

Hodge saw one man and woman lying next to each other, wearing head braces and barely able to move.

"They were just laying next to each other and grasping hands," Hodge said, "just a man and a woman holding hands."

The boardwalk, a 1.5-mile (2.4-kilometer) ribbon of asphalt that runs along the sand a few hundred yards from the ocean is home to galleries, restaurants, tattoo shops, skateboard parks and the famous outdoor weight room known as Muscle Beach.

It can draw as many as 150,000 people on summer weekends.

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