Italian bride killed in hit-and-run horror

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Husband of Italian bride killed in hit-and-run horror on Venice Beach boardwalk has been left 'destroyed' as witnesses say driver 'was out for blood'

• Alice Gruppioni, 32, who was on her honeymoon died a few hours after she was struck by the crazed driver at 6pm Saturday
• On Sunday, Nathan Louis Campbell, 38, was in custody and faces a murder charge after handing himself in
• Campbell is expected to appear in court on Tuesday
• Witnesses said the driver looked like he was in control and 'purposefully' going up to 60 mph as he aimed for pedestrians

 

PUBLISHED: 04:25 GMT, 4 August 2013 | UPDATED: 15:48 GMT, 5 August 2013

 

The husband of the Italian newlywed who was killed when a crazed driver mowed down dozens of pedestrians near a Los Angeles beach has now spoken out about his heartbreak.

Alice Gruppioni, 32, the daughter of a prominent Italian businessman, was rushed to hospital after the 6pm crash Saturday night and died a few hours later of her injuries, with her new husband Christian Casadei by her side.

'We were walking, we were happy, we were on our honeymoon and everything, and suddenly everything changed,' Casadei said, according to Giuseppe Perrone, the Italian consul general in Los Angeles, who accompanied Casadei to the hospital.

'I still can't believe it, and I don't even remember exactly what happened. It's all very confusing.'

Perrone described Casadei as 'destroyed and in disbelief.'

Scroll down for video Celebration: Alice Gruppioni, 32, from Genoa, Italy, (pictured with her husband Christian Casadei) at their wedding just weeks ago - before they set off for their ill-fated honeymoon of the United States

 

 

Wedding Day: Alice Gruppion died after being hit by a driver who deliberately smashed onto the Venice Beach boardwalk on Saturday as she and her new husband strolled down the popular boardwalk

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Victim's relative describes the scene of horror crash

 

Married just two weeks ago, Gruppioni and Casadei were in California for their honeymoon, which was a trip across the United States.

'It's a tragedy. There's nothing more to say,' Casadei told the Italian news agency ANSA.

One of the 11 people injured by the driver is in critical condition and two others are seriously injured, according to officials. The remaining eight sustained at least minor injuries and a four-year-old child is among the injured, according to reports.

Suspect Nathan Louis Campbell, 38, was in custody in connection with the horror hit-and-run after he turned himself in on Sunday. He has been booked into the LA County Jail on a murder charge on $1million bail.

The Los Angeles county district attorney's office reports that Campbell is expected to appear in court on Tuesday.

Police declined to discuss a motive but Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese said there was no indication that the attack was a terrorist act or that anyone else was involved.

'It's tragic the fact that somebody, whether accidental or intentional, would come on the boardwalk, where hundreds, thousands of people come here to enjoy the beach,' said LAPD Lt. Andy Neiman.

 

 

From Happiness to Tragedy: Alice Gruppioni, 32, from Genoa, Italy, (pictured left with her husband Christian Casadei on their wedding day) and (right - during their honeymoon in the United States) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Find this car!: Caught on security footage, this is the car that plowed through a crowd of pedestrians Saturday night in Venice Beach

RUN!: People scatter as the car barrels down the Venice Beach Boardwalk at them

CCTV car runs down people in Venice Beach

 

'There no indication that he knew anybody that he hit,' LAPD Cmdr. Andy Smith said to CNN.

'It looks like this guy wanted to run over a bunch of people. One guy bent on doing evil.'

Describing the car as in control despite going as fast as 60mph, one witness told KCAL that 'the driver was out for blood.'

Witnesses said the car drove 'purposefully down the boardwalk,' leaving a trail of injured people and shocked beach-goers in its aftermath.

 

Security video shows the man parking his black car alongside the seaside boardwalk as the sun sank, surveying the idyllic scene for several minutes before getting back into the car and speeding into the crowd.

It shows hundreds of people walking lazily or sitting at cafes before the black car suddenly appears and sends them scrambling wildly.

According to surveillance footage and witness accounts, the driver of the car swerved around yellow poles there to stop cars from getting onto the pedestrian-only boardwalk.

Crime scene: Police and fire officials respond at the scene where a car drove through a packed afternoon crowd along the Venice Beach boardwalk in Los Angeles

 

 

Injured: Police and fire officials assist an injured pedestrian at the scene where a car drove through a packed afternoon crowd along the Venice Beach boardwalk

 

 

 

 

Trouble in paradise: Injured pedestrians are attended to after a car crashes into pedestrians on the Venice Beach Boardwalk

Witness calls Venice beach car crash 'absolute mayhem'

 

The driver fled the scene and about an hour later, just as police were circulating word that they were seeking a black Dodge Avenger with a driver in his 20s, Campbell walked into a police station in neighboring Santa Monica, told officers he was involved in the boardwalk incident, Neiman said.

One of those injured, Mustafa Balci, was sitting in a lawn chair next to his wife at their booth on the Venice Beach boardwalk, enjoying the leisurely summer scene. Minutes later, their booth was struck by the car.

It swerved left, sideswiping a picnic table holding the couple's wares - the traditional Turkish blue glassware of the eye to ward off the evil eye, and wall hangings of Jesus and Virgin Mary tapestries.

The car hit three customers looking at the items, and slammed into Balci's knees pushing him backward, breaking a table, smashing a mirror and scattering everything.

His wife, Yesim Balci, was flung 8 feet, tumbling backward and landing facedown.

'I couldn't see her when I woke up, I looked up and was like where is she? I yelled, `Are you around?

Are you alive?' She yelled back, `I'm alive,'' Mustafa Balci said.

Relief at last: Firefighters and paramedics begin to treat those with minor injuries, the more seriously injured were taken to an area hospital

Right on the beach: The pedestrians were hit right near 1 Dudley Avenue, in Venice Beach, CA

'I thought both of us would be dead.'

Balci, 44, was helped up by strangers who took him over to his wife. The couple were taken along with three others to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, treated for minor injuries and released.

Only the beginning: Fire officials can be seen setting up the mats where they would treat the injured

 

Yesim Balci, 48, had her ankle taped up, blood seeping through the back, and bruises all over her body. On Sunday, she couldn't raise her left arm.

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

'I saw somebody flying up in the air… when I came upon the scene, there were a bunch of people on the ground, bloodied,' he said. 'Some looked pretty mangled, head injuries, just a lot of blood.'

'He was trying to kill everyone,' said witness Walter Estrada, 42, who works as a vendor on the boardwalk,

'It happened so fast, I was trying to protect myself.'

Witnesses described the horrific premeditated hit-and-run as like a scene out of a horror film.

'It was horrible. I mean it was like something out of a movie, something you would never expect to see. There were people flying, laying on the ground, tents flying everywhere,' said Katherine Blackburn to KABC TV.

'If he wanted to kill people, he came on a perfect time, 5 p.m. on a Saturday in the summer in Venice Beach.'

Witness Louisa Hodge said victims could be seen wandering around in a daze, dripping with blood.

'There was people kind of stumbling around, blood dripping down their legs looking confused not knowing what had happened, people screaming,' said Hodge, who was out enjoying the day on the Venice Beach boardwalk with a friend visiting from San Diego.

'It was blocks and blocks of people just strewn across the sidewalk.'

 

Such a tragedy: A makeshift memorial along the boardwalk near where a Saturday incident involving a driver who accelerated through a crowd of beachgoers

 

 

Touching: Many people wrote personal letters expressing their condolences after the death of 32-year-old Italian newlywed Alice Gruppioni, who was on her honeymoon when killed Saturday by the crazed driver