A car sped deliberately through a crowd of pedestrians, killing one, on the Venice Beach Boardwalk in Los Angeles.

One of the 12 people hit by the crazed driver has died, one other is in critical condition and two others are seriously injured, according to officials. Eight others sustained at least minor injuries and a four-year-old child is said to be among the injured, according to reports.

Witnesses to the carnage told local media that the car drove “purposefully down the boardwalk”, leaving a trail of injured people and shocked witnesses in its aftermath.

Another described the horrific scene from his vantage-point down the boardwalk.

The car sped deliberately through a crowd of pedestrians, killing one, on the Venice Beach Boardwalk

“I was half a mile from the scene, but you could see just this mass of people trying to get out of the way … just a lot of people screaming,” runner Daniel Rigedor told the Los Angeles Times.

He added: “I saw somebody flying up in the air… when I came upon the scene, there were a bunch of people on the ground, bloodied.

“Some looked pretty mangled, head injuries, just a lot of blood.”

Caught on a security camera outside the headquarters of mobile app company SnapChat, people can be seen diving out of the way of the dark blue sedan.

KCAL is also reporting that a four-year-old child is one of the injured, but that remains unconfirmed. An LAFD bulletin stated that the injured are “all believed to have been pedestrians on the boardwalk”.

The driver fled the scene and is wanted on felony hit and run charges, police said. With one person now dead, those charges will likely be upgraded. Police have brought a man into custody, according to NBC Los Angeles, but have not yet established a motive.

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