Three Killed as SUV Plows Into North Hollywood Street Vendors

Three people were killed and at least three others were hospitalized on Tuesday evening when a white SUV veered onto a crowded sidewalk outside the North Hollywood Metro station in Los Angeles and plowed into a group of street vendors and pedestrians, authorities said. The crash, reported at about 5:55 p.m. local time, turned a busy rush-hour corner into a scene of scattered debris and damaged food stalls — and left police still searching on Wednesday for an explanation of what sent the vehicle off the road.

The North Hollywood Metro station entrance on Lankershim Boulevard in Los Angeles, near where the crash happened on Tuesday evening. (File photo)

A Rush-Hour Corner Turned to Chaos

The SUV was traveling southbound on Lankershim Boulevard when it left the roadway in the 5300 block, near Chandler Boulevard, and struck at least five pedestrians, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The vehicle crashed into a food stand set up beside a Metro bus stop and came to rest on the sidewalk underneath a blue canopy, aerial video from CNN affiliate KCBS/KCAL showed, with debris scattered across the pavement and vendor tents damaged around it.

Firefighters and paramedics arrived within minutes of the 5:55 p.m. call, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. Three people were pronounced dead at the scene after emergency crews determined their injuries were beyond medical help. At least three other people were taken to area hospitals — two pedestrians in critical condition and the driver, a man in his 60s, who was also hospitalized, police said. The Los Angeles Fire Department said at least three patients were transported in critical condition.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass confirmed in a statement on social media that street vendors and pedestrians were among those struck. "Tragically, preliminary reports indicate that three people have lost their lives and others have been injured," she said.

Police closed the 5300 block of Lankershim Boulevard to traffic while officers worked the scene, and one entrance to the Metro station was closed on Tuesday night, although the bus and subway stations otherwise remained open, according to Jose Ubaldo, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

A street food cart in Los Angeles. Vendors selling food from carts and tents are a fixture outside the North Hollywood Metro station. (File photo)

The Vendors at the Heart of the Corner

The corner of Lankershim and Chandler boulevards, outside one of the San Fernando Valley's busiest transit stations, is a familiar gathering place for street vendors and evening commuters. Vendors there sell coffee, tamales, hot dogs and pastries from carts and tents set up along the sidewalk, and the area draws a steady flow of people transferring between the B Line subway and the G Line busway.

Local news outlets reported that the three people killed were women who worked as street vendors at the station, and witnesses told reporters that at least one of the victims had worked at the location for more than 15 years. Police have not officially released the victims' identities or ages, and their names were being withheld pending notification of relatives.

Kassandra Guzman, 12, told the Los Angeles Times she was sitting at her family's smash burger stand across Lankershim Boulevard when she saw the vehicle barreling down the street and drive straight through the blue tarp where a number of food vendors usually set up. Luis Luna-Guzman, who was working at a burger stand nearby, told reporters he heard a loud boom and saw people on the ground along with food and cups scattered across the sidewalk.

A woman who spoke to CNN at the scene said she knew four women caught up in the crash, identifying them as food vendors who would hand out food to people in need.

The Driver and the Investigation

The driver, a man in his 60s, was among those taken to a hospital, where he was reported to be in serious condition, police told CBS News. LAPD drug recognition experts were evaluating him to determine whether impairment may have played a role, and tests were underway to determine whether he was under the influence of any substances at the time of the crash, LAPD Captain Warner Castillo said at a news conference at the scene.

Investigators have not determined what caused the SUV to leave the roadway, and police have not ruled out the possibility that the crash was intentional. "We don't know if it was done intentionally or it was done by accident," Castillo said. Police said they do not believe a second vehicle was involved.

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said detectives would review surveillance video from nearby businesses and the Metro station as part of what he described as a careful, methodical inquiry. "It'll be a prolonged but a very deliberate investigation to determine what happened here," McDonnell said. Investigators were also examining security camera footage from the bus station to reconstruct the moments leading up to the impact, and no arrests had been made as of Wednesday morning.

What This Means

The crash is the latest deadly reminder of the dangers facing pedestrians in Los Angeles, a city where people on foot account for roughly half of all traffic deaths. According to LAPD figures, 111 fatal crashes between a vehicle and a pedestrian were recorded on city streets from January 1 to October 3, 2026 — up from 104 in the same period of 2025, a rise of about 6.7 percent. Federal data cited by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration showed Los Angeles had 145 pedestrian fatalities in 2023, the most of any American city with a population of 500,000 or more.

The numbers sit uneasily alongside the city's Vision Zero program, launched in 2015 with the goal of eliminating traffic deaths by 2025. A review of California Highway Patrol data published earlier this year found pedestrian fatalities in Los Angeles remained above the 88 recorded when the program began, climbing to about 155 in both 2023 and 2024, though preliminary figures suggested a decline in 2025.

Tuesday's crash also puts a spotlight on the street vendors who work the sidewalks around the city's transit hubs. Vendors are a fixture of the North Hollywood station, serving commuters from tents and carts that sit close to fast-moving traffic on Lankershim Boulevard, one of the Valley's main north-south corridors. The vendors killed on Tuesday were working at the same spot where they had served the evening crowd for years, according to people who knew them.

For now, though, the central question remains unanswered: why the SUV left the road at all. Until investigators finish reviewing the video and the driver's evaluation, police say they cannot say whether the crash was a medical emergency, a mechanical failure, impairment — or something deliberate.

The North Hollywood Metro station, a busy transit hub where the B Line subway and G Line busway meet. One station entrance was closed on Tuesday night after the crash. (File photo)

What Happens Next

The LAPD investigation is expected to continue for days, with detectives working through surveillance footage frame by frame, according to Chief McDonnell. The department has not said when it expects to release the victims' names or the driver's identity, or when any findings about the cause of the crash will be made public.

The 5300 block of Lankershim Boulevard was expected to reopen once investigators finished documenting the scene. The Metro station entrance that was closed on Tuesday night was expected to return to normal service, and the transit agency said the station itself was otherwise unaffected.

For the vendors and commuters who use the corner every day, the crash leaves a more immediate question: how quickly the familiar food stalls return — and whether anything changes about the thin line between the sidewalk where they work and the traffic rushing past it.