Trader Joe’s Parking Lot Crash in Fairfax Ends in Fatality

LOS ANGELES, CA – A woman in her 30s died and four other people were injured Thursday afternoon when a Tesla crossed a busy Fairfax District parking lot and struck pedestrians near a security stand.

The crash was reported shortly after 1:20 p.m. at the Gilmore Station shopping center, 7900 W. Third St., just west of Fairfax Avenue. The lot serves Trader Joe’s, Mendocino Farms and Sidecar Doughnuts and sits across the street from The Grove and the Original Farmers Market.

Los Angeles firefighters pronounced the woman dead at the scene. They took three other pedestrians to hospitals: a 19-year-old man with serious injuries and women ages 30 and 57 with injuries described as minor. The 91-year-old woman who was driving the Tesla was hospitalized with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

Aerial video showed firefighters attending to patients across the lot as an older woman was moved in a wheelchair. The Tesla rested beside the damaged stand with its airbags deployed. The recording documented the response rather than the initial collision and did not establish what caused the driver to lose control.

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Crash unfolded near parking attendant stand

Witnesses said the driver lost control after entering the lot. The Tesla struck a parked vehicle before moving toward a group of people and crashing into a stand used by parking attendants. The people struck had been standing near the booth, where parking attendants work at the entrance to the shared retail lot.

Drake Piscione, who lives near the shopping center, spoke with the driver after the collision. He said she appeared shaken and told him that she had tried to stop as the car accelerated. Investigators had not confirmed her account or announced what caused the Tesla to continue through the lot.

Los Angeles police remained at the shopping center as firefighters cleared the emergency response. Officers took over the crash investigation while crews worked around the damaged stand and the Tesla.

Cause remained under investigation

The Los Angeles Police Department announced no arrest. Authorities described the collision as an apparent accident, but the department had not released a formal finding on the cause by early Friday. The name of the woman who died also remained withheld, and there was no later update on the 19-year-old man’s condition.

Mayor Karen Bass said the city sent members of its Crisis Response Team to assist people affected by the crash. The team joined the response as police continued their work at the shopping center, where the investigation remained open into Friday morning.