Venice Boardwalk Hit and Run Kills One, Injures 11. Driver Was 'Looking for Blood'

Police are trying to understand what made a 38-year-old man from Colorado allegedly drive his car onto the crowded Venice boardwalk killing one person and injuring 11, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Nathan Campbell turned himself in at a nearby Santa Monica police station and was arrested for suspicion of murder. Campbell is being held on $1 million bail. Police are investigating whether or not Campbell was under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol at the time of the incident, according to ABC News.

Witnesses say that Campbell drove his Dodge Avenger direction into pedestrians on the crowded Venice Beach boardwalk hitting speeds as high as 60 mph while apparently attempting to hit pedestrians on purpose, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"There were thousands of people in the promenade," John Drolette, who saw the event from the balcony of the Cadillac Hotel, told the Los Angeles Times. "He was zigzagging; he did it on purpose."

Alice Gruppioni, 32, who was visiting California from Italy on her honeymoon, was killed by the speeding car. Her husband Christian was injured in the crash and described the event to ABC News.

"We were happy holding hands," Christian said. "Then, everything changed."

An eyewitness, Richard Ruiz, ran to help and described the woman's tragic last moments to ABC News.

"It was just really sad to see because that guy was just sitting down to her left, just talking to her at first," Ruiz said. "Right when I got there, she was speaking little. But after that, the next thing you know she just stopped talking."

Witnesses have described Campbell as being out for blood and trying to hit as many people as possible.

"He had to have pressed his foot to the gas, pedal to the metal, because his tires were screeching," Landon Blackburn, an eyewitness, told ABC News. "I saw him, and he was looking for blood. That guy, his intention was to kill people."

Another witness, Elizabeth Adams, thought that Campbell was speeding up on purpose in order to do more damage.

"The boardwalk was packed with people and he sped up and purposely - it looked like purposely - was just swerving back and forth to run over as many people as he could," Adams said.

In response to the incident many locals, including Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin, are demanding that better barriers be constructed in order to avoid a similar tragedy in the future. Bonin admits that doing so might be tricky since the boardwalk will still need to be accessible to emergency vehicles, according to the Los Angeles Times.