Driver facing 37 counts of attempted murder after plowing into crowd outside East Hollywood nightclub

East Hollywood attack: driver faces 37 charges

Fernando Ramirez, the man charged with driving his car into a crowd outside an East Hollywood nightclub, is facing 37 charges including attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon.

LOS ANGELES - Charges have been announced against the driver who plowed into a group of people outside a nightclub in East Hollywood early Saturday morning.

What we know:

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman announced Tuesday that 29-year-old Fernando Ramirez was charged with 37 counts of attempted murder and 37 counts of assault with a deadly weapon.

He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.  

Ramirez is accused of intentionally driving his car on the sidewalk near Vermont Hollywood Nightclub, hitting at least 37 people. Many of the people hit were standing near a taco truck and valet stand. At least one person was trapped under Ramirez's vehicle, Hochman said. The incident happened on Saturday, July 19, around 2 a.m. 

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Charges filed against East Hollywood driver

The driver who plowed into a crowd of people outside a nightclub Saturday night in East Hollywood is facing 37 counts of attempted murder, DA Hochman announced.

According to Hochman, eight of the 37 people suffered serious injuries, which included fractures, lacerations, and broken bones. Officials say it was a miracle no one died. 

"The fact that we only have individuals that suffered great bodily injury and nothing more besides being, you know, a real miracle was in large part to the heroic and incredibly speedy actions of over a hundred first responders that responded at 2 a.m. to this scene," Hochman said during a press conference Tuesday.

After the crash, police said bystanders pulled Ramirez from the car and attacked him. While that was happening, police said, another man walked over and shot Ramirez in the lower back, then ran off. Police are still searching for that shooter and released images of him in hopes the public can identify him. 

Meanwhile, Ramirez was arrested at the scene.

Photo released of suspect in East Hollywood shooting

Authorities shared a photo of the suspect accused in a shooting at a nightclub in East Hollywood.

Driver's past criminal record 

Hochman said Ramirez has an extensive criminal record and was out on bail for a 2022 domestic violence case in Orange County. His record also includes at least 11 criminal cases ranging from misdemeanors to felonies.

He was convicted on 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 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.

In December 2021, he pleaded guilty 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.

In addition, Ramirez pleaded guilty to corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant and child abuse, both misdemeanors, in June 2018. He pleaded guilty to felony counts of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury and gang-related battery in December 2014.

What we don't know:

It's unclear why Ramirez drove into the crowd. He is expected to be arraigned on Wednesday.