A 61-year-old driver was booked on Wednesday, November 11, on three counts of murder after a white minivan drove onto a sidewalk outside the North Hollywood Metro station in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening, killing three women and critically injuring two others, Los Angeles police said. The driver was identified as Ihor Demianenko, a resident of the Valley Village neighbourhood of Los Angeles, police spokesperson Officer Norma Eisenman said, according to the Associated Press. An arrest is an allegation, not a conviction, and it was not immediately clear whether Demianenko had a lawyer who could respond.
Source: Associated Press via Glasgow Times
Firefighters and paramedics arrived at 5:55 p.m. on Tuesday, November 10, at the intersection of Lankershim Boulevard and Chandler Boulevard, in the 5300 block of North Lankershim, after reports of a crash, Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Lyndsey Lantz said. Crews found three women who were beyond medical assistance and were pronounced dead at the scene. Their names were being withheld pending notification of relatives, and police reported their ages only in a broad range in early accounts, while ABC News reported police describing the women killed as aged 40, 53 and 69.
Source: MyNewsLA (City News Service)
Two women in their 50s were rushed to hospital in critical condition, the Los Angeles Police Department said. Demianenko was also hospitalised after being extricated from the damaged vehicle. Police said he was talking when he was taken out of the vehicle, appeared to be in shock, and was not in critical condition. Two pedestrians and the driver were the three people taken to hospitals on Tuesday night, police and fire officials told Reuters.
Booked at Valley Jail on $6.03 million bail
Demianenko was booked on Wednesday at the LAPD's Valley Jail in Van Nuys and was being held in lieu of $6.03 million bail, according to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department inmate records reported by MyNewsLA. An LAPD spokeswoman initially told City News Service that the man had been arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence after he was taken to Dignity Health - Northridge Hospital Medical Center. Police said later on Wednesday that he was booked on three counts of murder. Authorities have not publicly detailed what evidence led to each step, what substance, if any, was suspected in the initial DUI arrest, or whether speed also contributed, and prosecutors have not yet announced a formal charging decision in court.
How the minivan left Lankershim Boulevard
Multiple media reports said the vehicle was travelling south on Lankershim when it jumped the barriers in place to protect the pedestrians and street vendors who regularly gather on the sidewalk, and it came to rest under a food vendor's tent or canopy beside a transit shelter. Los Angeles Police Capt. Mike Bland told the Los Angeles Times the vehicle was heading south on Lankershim when it went over the curb. In a later account, detectives said the driver appeared to be trying to avoid another car that was being driven legally, CBS Los Angeles reported. Police stressed that account was not a final finding about the cause, and on Tuesday night Capt. Warner Castillo said police did not yet know whether the crash was accidental or deliberate.
"Our investigators have the video. They'll run it down in slow motion and take it frame-by-frame to determine what happened," LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell told reporters at the scene on Tuesday night. Investigators were also seeking recordings from nearby businesses as well as the station, and the fire department's dispatch record left the circumstances unconfirmed and directed questions about the crash to police.
Vendors and commuters at a busy evening hub
Vendors regularly set up near the station entrances, serving people on their way to and from trains, the Los Angeles Times reported. A witness at a family's smash burger stand across Lankershim told the Times she saw the vehicle drive straight through the blue tarp where a number of food vendors usually set up, and said the vendors sell coffee, tamales, hot dogs and pastries and that the people injured have been working there for years. At least one of those killed was confirmed to be a vendor, according to a report from the scene. North Hollywood station is a transfer point for the B Line subway, the G Line busway and local buses, at an intersection where large numbers of commuters move between stops and station entrances during the evening rush.
"Today, an SUV drove onto a sidewalk near the North Hollywood Metro Station, striking a group of street vendors and pedestrians. Tragically, preliminary reports indicate that three people have lost their lives and others have been injured," Mayor Karen Bass said on Tuesday evening, adding that first responders were on the scene and her office was coordinating with city departments. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said she was stunned by the loss of life, thanked first responders, and said she would closely follow the investigation and seek additional information as the facts emerge.
The intersection was closed for hours but was later reopened on Wednesday morning. One Metro entrance remained closed on Tuesday night, but the bus and subway stations otherwise stayed open, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority spokesperson Jose Ubaldo told the AP. That meant the disruption was to access at one entrance rather than a shutdown of the rail or bus stations, and Metro gave no reopening time for that entrance on Tuesday night.
Background and what happens next
The station area was already slated for major change before Tuesday's crash. In 2024, the Metro board authorised a development agreement for an 11.8-acre project called District NoHo around the station, including more than 1,400 apartments when complete, along with shops, offices and more than two acres of publicly accessible open space. Separately, the city's transportation department reported in April that 290 people died in traffic crashes across Los Angeles in 2025 - a citywide figure for all road users that does not explain this crash. Officials have not linked the redevelopment project to the collision. What happens next is a prosecutorial decision on formal charges, the release of the three women's names after their families are notified, updates on the two critically injured women, and a police investigation that officers said on Tuesday night could take time before any final determination of why the minivan left the road.