Someone Drove Directly Into a Crowd of Tourists in Venice Beach

The man who drove his car into a busy Los Angeles tourist destination Saturday evening, killing one person and injuring 11 others, turned himself into police later on that night and is now being held on $1 million bail.

The man who drove his car into a busy Los Angeles tourist destination Saturday evening, killing one person and injuring 11 others, turned himself into police later on that night and is now being held on $1 million bail. Around 6 p.m. Saturday evening, a blue Dodge charger going around 60 miles per hour drove directly into a crowd of people on the Venice Beach boardwalk before speeding away. In the chaos after the crash, the driver, who was later identified as 38-year-old Nathan Campbell, hopped out of his car and split. One victim is now in critical condition and two more are in serious condition. Alice Gruppioni, a 32-year-old Italian native, was killed in the crash. "This guy had an intent to create mayhem and massacre a lot of people," one witness told a CNN affiliate.

Campbell's motivation remains a mystery, and the security camera footage of his actions prior to the crash offer no clues, either. The Associated Press reports Campbell can be seen sitting on the boardwalk and watching the sunset for several minutes before getting into his car, driving only a short distance and running the Charger into the busy crowd of pedestrians. Campbell allegedly turned himself in to a Santa Monica police department a few hours after the crash, according to the Los Angeles Times. Police officials confirmed his arrest and his bail during a press conference on Saturday morning.

The boardwalk is a hub for tourists in the area and the crash happened at a peak time for pedestrian traffic, so there were plenty of witnesses to the crash. And the picture painted by their statements is chaotic and tragic. "I saw somebody flying up in the air," Daniel Regidor, who was running nearby, told the Times. "When I came upon the scene, there were a bunch of people on the ground, bloodied." Daniel Jenkins said the car "started basically losing control" before driving directly into a crowd of people, including some street vendors who normally set up along the boardwalk. Tourists flock to the area, and one woman normally sells turtles in the area. "All the turtles flew everywhere," Jenkins said.