SUV kills three people outside North Hollywood Metro station

Three people were killed and three others, including the driver, were taken to hospitals when a vehicle veered onto a sidewalk outside the North Hollywood Metro station in Los Angeles during Tuesday's evening rush.

The crash was reported at about 5:55 p.m. at Lankershim and Chandler boulevards, outside a Metro station that serves subway and bus riders. Officers responded to reports of a vehicle that had struck pedestrians, and a white SUV hit at least five people, the Los Angeles Police Department said. Three were pronounced dead at the scene, the Los Angeles Fire Department said.

Two of the three taken to hospitals were in critical condition, firefighters said. Police Capt. Warner Castillo said the department's drug recognition experts were at the hospital to determine whether the driver was impaired, and that police did not believe another vehicle was involved. Castillo described the driver as a man in his 60s.

What police said at the scene

Officials had not determined a cause and had not ruled anything out, Castillo said at a news conference. "We don't know if it was done intentionally, if it was done by accident," he said, according to the Associated Press.

Everyone who was struck was on the sidewalk, Police Chief Jim McDonnell said, and the investigation remained in its early stages Tuesday night. It was not clear how fast the vehicle had been traveling, and investigators planned to examine video from the area and interview witnesses.

The SUV came to rest on the sidewalk beneath a food vendor's tent with its driver's side door open and an air bag deployed, the Associated Press reported.

A corner lined with food stands

Bass said the people who were struck were street vendors and pedestrians, and that her office was coordinating with city departments as authorities worked to determine the cause. Vendors regularly set up stands along the sidewalk outside the station, residents told NBC Los Angeles.

Castillo said the car ran over people who were eating and people who were selling food. The crash happened near the North Hollywood Arts District, an area known for food stands outside the Metro station that sell pastries and drinks to commuters and nearby workers, FOX 11 reported.

Residents described the vendors as familiar faces, among them a couple who sold food on the sidewalk all day. Angela Parker, a North Hollywood resident, told NBC Los Angeles that the vendors always helped homeless people in the area, and that "it breaks my heart, it breaks my heart that people don't know how to slow down." People gathered at the scene Tuesday night.

Neither the three people who died nor the driver had been publicly identified by late Tuesday, and police did not say whether the driver would face charges.

What responders and witnesses saw

A Los Angeles Fire Department battalion chief came across the crash at about 6 p.m. and found what Assistant Fire Chief Joe Everett described to reporters as a car that had careened into a number of people on the sidewalk.

Luis Luna-Guzman was working at a burger stand nearby when he heard a loud boom and saw people on the ground, he told the Associated Press. He found a woman lying near the bike racks, her face, arms and legs bloody, and told her not to move because help was coming. He saw a woman's body nearby, and another woman lying unmoving on the stairs that lead to the station.

Gian Barbarona was walking just feet away when the car came through the area. The scene looked to him as though a pipe bomb had exploded, he told NBC Los Angeles, and he saw the people who were struck go up and then down. He filmed the aftermath on his cellphone.

The moment I crossed this station, this crossing right here and went to the other side, I heard from zero to screeching, from nothing to like a loud screeching of wheels

Lincoln Brown, who was walking away from the station, told NBC Los Angeles that he heard a loud crash behind him, turned around and saw a car smashed up against the Metro. A witness told the station that two women selling hot dogs were thrown in the air by the impact.

One station entrance stays closed

One entrance to the Metro station remained closed Tuesday night, though the rest of the property was unaffected and the bus and subway stations stayed open, said Jose Ubaldo, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Aerial video from NBC Los Angeles showed a white vehicle crashed into the side of the station, which houses stairs and escalators down to the subway.

City and county officials respond

Bass, whose office issued a statement Tuesday evening, said first responders were at the scene and that preliminary reports indicated three people had been killed and others injured.

Adrin Nazarian, a Los Angeles City Council member whose district includes North Hollywood, went to the scene and described the neighborhood as close-knit, saying people there are friendly and know each other, FOX 11 reported. He also called the area the heart of North Hollywood. "This is a constantly very active place, so it's extremely concerning when you hear something like this happen," he said, according to the Associated Press.

Kathryn Barger, who sits on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, said in a statement that her thoughts were with the victims and their loved ones. She also expressed hopes for the recovery of those who were injured.

As of 10 p.m. Tuesday, officials had not publicly identified the driver as a suspect in the crash, FOX 11 reported.

What investigators have not determined

Police said the white SUV struck at least five pedestrians, all of them on the sidewalk.

Castillo said the driver had to be pulled from the vehicle after the crash. "Normally, when you're in an accident, you come out, right?" he said, adding that the driver was able to talk but appeared to be in shock. Investigators will go through video of the crash frame by frame, McDonnell said.

It'll be probably a prolonged but very deliberate investigation to determine what happened here, and our hearts go out to the families of the victims that were struck here tonight

The crash remains under investigation. Officials did not say when results of the drug recognition examination would be available, or when they expect to determine a cause. "I'm heartbroken for the families of everyone impacted," Bass said in a post on X, adding that her office would continue to provide updates as more information becomes available.