"When the car came through, it was just like shattering glass, and the next thing we knew the registers were like dominoes and went down, 1-2-3," said one of the Trader Joe’s customers who was in the store at the time of the crash.
According to Oceanside Fire Chief Kevin Klein, a total of 15 people were injured when the out-of-control car crashed into Trader Joe’s on Friday afternoon around 1 p.m. and 11 victims had to be taken to hospitals. Many of the victims sustained injuries ranging from broken bones and head injuries to bruises and cuts from the shattering glass.
The two victims that were directly struck by the car as it plowed into Trader Joe’s had serious injuries. Both were standing near the checkout line. One man, who was trapped under the elderly woman’s car, had to be rescued by firefighters by using air bags in order to lift the car.
The New York Post reported that one Trader Joe’s customer said that when the out-of-control car crashed into Trader Joe’s, it horrified people.
“We didn’t know if it was a bomb or not. We were all so scared,” she said. ”There was an old lady inside the car, maybe in her 70s. She didn’t look injured.”
Other eyewitnesses report that the elderly woman’s white Buick sedan slammed into two cars in the parking lot, barreled past an outdoor Christmas wreath display, and crashed through Trader Joe’s front before coming to a stop midway through one of the aisles. The out-of-control car finally came to a halt under a giant flower with the words, “Fearless Flyer.”
