A mother of five was among three women killed when an allegedly drunk driver slammed his SUV into a sidewalk vending area outside a North Hollywood Metro station Tuesday night.
Maria Peck and Teodora Villalobos, 57, a mother of three from El Salvador, were identified as two of the victims by Wednesday afternoon. The third woman’s identity had not been released.
The women were longtime vendors at the busy intersection of Lankershim and Chandler boulevards, where neighbors said they had become familiar faces in the community.
Neighbor Fran Shelia Straughter spoke to NBC 4 about the void left behind. “There’s going to be a hole right here coming right here for anybody that’s just in the community regularly,” she said.
Witnesses told the television station that two women selling hot dogs were thrown into the air by the impact of the white SUV.
Police identified the driver as Ihor Demianenko, 61, who investigators said was speeding and drove around another vehicle before losing control.
Demianenko was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence at twice the legal limit and booked on three counts of murder. His bail was set at $6 million.
At least three additional patients, including the driver, were transported to a Northridge hospital in critical condition.
Mayor-elect Nithya Raman mourned the victims in a post on X. “My heart breaks for the families and loved ones of those killed in North Hollywood last night,” she wrote.
Raman added that reports that some of the victims were vendors who had spent years serving the community made the loss “especially devastating.”
The crash occurred Tuesday night at the Metro station in North Hollywood, where the three women had established their vending operation. The intersection of Lankershim and Chandler boulevards is a heavily trafficked area where the vendors had built relationships with regular customers over time.
Demianenko remains in custody on $6 million bail as the investigation continues.