Police arrest suspect in East Hollywood shooting of driver accused of plowing into crowd of pedestrians

LOS ANGELES — A 28-year-old man wanted for shooting a driver accused of plowing into a crowd of pedestrians in East Hollywood was arrested Sunday in Redondo Beach.

ABC7 reported Efrain Villalobos of Lawndale was arrested by Redondo Beach police and turned over to Los Angeles Police Department detectives about 1:15 p.m. Sunday.

Villalobos is suspected of shooting 29-year-old Fernando Ramirez in the lower back during a chaotic scene outside a nightclub in the early hours of July 19, according to the LAPD.

Officers responded around 2 that morning to the 1000 block of North Vermont Avenue, where a mass casualty incident had been reported involving at least 37 victims.

Ramirez had been kicked out of the nightclub for being disruptive before he crashed into the crowd, police sources told NBC Los Angeles.

Ramirez — who has a lengthy criminal record in Orange County dating back to 2014 — was charged July 22 with 37 counts each of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon in a case in which he could face a potential life prison sentence if he is convicted as charged.

The charges “correspond to each of the 37 victims that suffered injuries as a result of Mr. Ramirez’s actions,” District Attorney Nathan Hochman said last month.

Police said Ramirez was pulled from the vehicle and shot in the back by Villalobos as onlookers set upon him after the crash.

Villalobos faces felony charges in connection with the shooting of Ramirez.

Meanwhile, Ramirez is scheduled to return to a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on Sept. 4 for arraignment. His previous court dates were postponed for just over a week while he recovered from the gunshot wound sustained after the crash.

He has since been transferred to Men’s Central Jail, where he remains held on about $37 million bail.