At least eight people were killed and 35 injured within the
course of a few seconds, as a car drove through a bustling farmers
market in Santa Monica at 1:47 p.m. Wednesday.
Police said the driver, whose name is Russell Weller, is in his
80s and showed no sign of being under the influence of alcohol or
another substance.
Several blocks of the market area were transformed into a
triage, where workers treated the injured on sheets laid out on the
pavement.
Police Chief James Butts Jr. said between 20 and 30 people are
suffering from minor injuries, with 15 others in critical
condition.
A 3-year-old girl was among the dead.
Teresa McKinn, a 59-year-old woman from Alta Loma, said she
turned in time to see the car plowing through pedestrians in the
market area.
“I heard a noise … thump, thump, thump … I saw the car
barreling through with two bodies on the hood,” she said.
Michael Cheselka, a 42-year-old resident of Milpitas, said he
was out with a friend, hoping to buy peaches and pears, when he
witnessed the incident.
Cheselka said he saw a 3- or 4-year-old boy on the ground on 4th
Street whom the paramedics tried to revive, but couldn’t.
The street was strewn with boxes and smashed produce, as
emergency workers moved among bodies of the injured and deceased.
Yellow caution tape mixed with leveled market tents.
TV reports showed a red car with damage to its hood and roof,
and witnesses said the car’s driver emerged from the
vehicle.
“I saw the driver getting out of the car and the police
talking to him, a body of an elderly person on the windshield of
the car,” Cheselka said.
Both emergency workers from Santa Monica and neighboring areas
were on the scene.
The street was packed full with emergency vehicles, and patients
were airlifted to area hospitals.
As of 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the UCLA Medical Center received
10 patients, with six in critical condition, and the Santa
Monica-UCLA Medical Center is treating 12 patients, with one in
critical condition.
According to TV reports, the bodies of some of the deceased were
not removed directly after the incident, and may not be removed
until police investigations are completed.
The farmer’s market draws over 9,000 shoppers, and runs
for two blocks along Arizona Avenue, bisecting Third Street
Promenade.
Jennifer Williams, a 26-year-old sales representative who lives
on 12th Street, near where the incident occurred, said she could
not believe “something like that could happen” in her
neighborhood.
“There were bodies everywhere ““ children, old
people, lots of blood,” she said.
For information on hospitalized victims, call (310)
458-8474. With reports from Menaka Fernando, Brad Greenberg and
Robert Salonga, Bruin Senior Staff, and Daily Bruin wire
services.