LOS ANGELES (CNS) – An Orange County man who allegedly drove his car into a crowd outside an East Hollywood nightclub, injuring more than three dozen people, is now scheduled to be arraigned July 30 on more than 70 criminal charges, including attempted murder.
Fernando Ramirez, 29, of San Clemente, was charged Tuesday with 37 counts each of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon in a case in which he could face a potential life prison sentence if he is convicted as charged.
The charges “correspond to each of the 37 victims that suffered injuries as a result of Mr. Ramirez’s actions,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said Tuesday, along with allegations that Ramirez inflicted great bodily harm on eight of the victims who suffered injuries including “fractures, lacerations and broken bones” in the crash just before 2 a.m. Saturday.
The district attorney said Ramirez is accused of “intentionally driving his car onto the sidewalk near The Vermont Hollywood, a popular event venue,” saying that the defendant “drove that car onto the sidewalk” and “aimed it at a whole sea of pedestrians that were in front of him.”
Hochman called it a “brazen act” that has shaken the community and “could have been catastrophic,” but didn’t result in any loss of life.
Ramirez is recovering from a gunshot wound.
According to police, Ramirez — who has a lengthy criminal record in Orange County dating back to 2014 — was pulled from the vehicle and shot in the back by an unknown attacker as onlookers set upon him after the Saturday morning crash. Ramirez was then taken into custody. The gunman who shot Ramirez remains at large.
The crash was reported in the 4600 block of Santa Monica Boulevard, near Vermont Avenue, according to Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Lyndsey Lantz. The crowd was standing outside The Vermont Hollywood, where a show was taking place.
Speaking at the news conference Tuesday with Hochman, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell called the crash “an unprovoked act of violence,” saying that it “turned a popular night-life district into a scene of trauma and fear.”
“It is truly a miracle that nobody was killed that night,” the police chief said.
Seven people were hospitalized in critical condition, six were seriously injured and 10 were in fair condition, Lantz said shortly after the crash. Others were assessed at the scene and declined hospital transport.
As of early this week, only one patient remained in critical — but stable — condition, and had a broken leg, according to NBC4.
The shooting suspect was described as Hispanic, between 5-feet-6 inches and 5-feet-7 inches tall, and weighing between 150 and 170 pounds. He was last seen wearing a blue Dodgers jacket, a light blue jersey with the number “5,” and blue jeans. He has gauges (wide piercings) in both ears and a goatee. He is bald in photos released by police, who earlier described him as possibly armed with a silver revolver.
The LAPD released an updated photo Monday of the suspect, with McDonnell asking Tuesday for the public’s help in locating him.
Anyone with information regarding the shooting was urged to call the LAPD’s Rampart Community Police Station at 213-484-3424. Callers who wish to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or visit lacrimestoppers.org.
“The LAPD will continue to pursue justice for the victims and accountability for all individuals responsible — whether behind the wheel or firing a gun,” the LAPD chief told reporters.
Ramirez was taken to a hospital, and though his condition was not provided, his injuries did not appear to be life-threatening, authorities said.
LAPD Capt. Ben Fernandes told the Los Angeles Times that Ramirez had been kicked out of the nightclub for being disruptive before he crashed into the crowd.
Ramirez was convicted Oct. 17, 2019, in Orange County of a felony count of battery with serious bodily injury, with a sentencing enhancement for a hate crime and a misdemeanor count of hate crime for sucker-punching a Black Whole Foods employee in Laguna Beach in June 2019, according to court records. But the hate crime count and enhancement were overturned on appeal in January 2021 and then dismissed March 26, 2021.
He was sentenced to six years in prison in January 2020 for the hate crime attack, but after those charges were dismissed, he was re-sentenced to four years in prison.
Ramirez is currently charged with domestic battery causing injury with a prior conviction for violence and a misdemeanor count of violating a protective-stay-away order for an alleged attack on a girlfriend in San Juan Capistrano on Jan. 28, 2022, according to court records. That case is still pending, with Ramirez due in court for a pretrial hearing July 30 in the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach.
Ramirez is also awaiting trial for allegedly driving drunk in Fountain Valley on Aug. 12 of last year.
Ramirez pleaded guilty in December 2021 to a misdemeanor count of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury and two counts of resisting arrest on Sept. 11, 2021. Prosecutors said in court papers that he resisted arrest after he grabbed a woman by the hair and slammed her into a three-foot-tall cinder block.
Ramirez also pleaded guilty in December 2021 to a misdemeanor count of corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant on Aug. 24, 2021.
Ramirez pleaded guilty to corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant and child abuse, both misdemeanors, in June of 2018. He pleaded guilty to felony counts of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury and gang-related battery in December 2014.
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