1 Dead, 4 Injured After 91-Year-Old Driver Crashes in Trader Joe's Parking Lot
A 91-year-old driver crashed her Tesla through a Trader Joe's parking lot in Los Angeles's Fairfax District on Thursday, killing a woman in her 30s and injuring four other people, including the driver herself. The crash happened just before 1:30 p.m. at the Gilmore Station shopping center in the 7900 block of West Third Street, near Fairfax Avenue and across from The Original Farmers Market, one of the neighborhood's busiest pedestrian destinations.
What Happened in the Parking Lot
According to law enforcement sources, the driver struck a parked SUV before colliding with pedestrians walking toward a parked van and then crashing into the lot's parking booth structure, injuring the attendant stationed inside. LAFD Captain Cody Weireter told reporters that the woman who died was possibly in her 30s; her name had not been released as of the following day.
Driver Says Brakes Failed
An eyewitness at the scene, Drake Piscione, recalled hearing the driver say "she tried to stop the Tesla, it was accelerating and she couldn't stop it," adding that "her foot was on the brake, but it kept going." Piscione said the driver "was pretty shell shocked" afterward and "didn't realize she had killed someone."
Investigators have not said whether the crash resulted from driver error, a vehicle malfunction or a medical issue, and the case remains open. The driver remained at the scene after the crash and cooperated with responding officers, and no charges had been filed against her as of the following day.
Victims and Injuries
Beyond the woman killed, four other people were hurt: a 19-year-old man suffered serious injuries, while two women, ages 30 and 57, sustained minor injuries. The parking booth attendant working inside the structure the Tesla struck was also among the injured, caught in the same sequence of collisions that hit the pedestrians walking through the lot.
The 91-year-old driver was also hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after remaining at the scene. All of the injured were expected to survive, and none of their names have been released publicly. Los Angeles Fire Department crews responded to the scene as a multiple-casualty incident, with Weireter providing updates on each victim's condition to reporters gathered outside the shopping center.
City Response and Investigation
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said afterward that she was saddened by the crash and confirmed that crisis response teams had been deployed to support those affected, including witnesses who saw the collisions unfold in the middle of a routine shopping trip.
The Los Angeles Police Department is continuing to investigate the circumstances of the crash, and no arrest has been announced as detectives work to determine what caused the vehicle to strike so many people in quick succession. The incident adds to a string of parking lot crashes involving elderly drivers reported around the country in recent years, incidents that have renewed public debate over whether older drivers should face more frequent testing behind the wheel.
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