4 dead after car hits crowd outside Calif. church

REDONDO BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Police say four people — including two women in their 80s and a 6 year-old boy and his mother— were killed when a driver struck a group of pedestrians outside a Southern California church as a Christmas service ended.

Samuel Gaza died late Thursday at a hospital, says the Los Angeles County coroner's Lt. David Smith.

The crash along the Pacific Coast Highway Wednesday night left five children and eight adults, including the suspect, injured with broken bones, abrasions and head trauma, Redondo Beach police said.

Police said they are investigating what led up to the female driver running a red light and plowing into a crowd of pedestrians, then hitting another vehicle.

Three adults died, including the boy's mother, Martha Gaza, 36; along with Mary Anne Wilson, 81; and Saeko Matsumura, 87, all of Torrance.

Margo Bronstein, 56, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and vehicular manslaughter and was expected to make her first court appearance either Friday or Monday, Redondo Beach police and Los Angeles County prosecutors said.

Authorities said they believed she had taken prescription drugs, but were awaiting the results of a toxicology test.

"The crosswalk was full and the light was red," witness Marco Zonno told KNBC-TV. "Someone ran the red light and bodies started flying. It was pretty horrible."

The California Highway Patrol was assisting Redondo Beach police in the investigation.

The crash comes three days after another driver now charged with drunken driving injured 11 people who were parked and looking at a holiday light display in the Los Angeles suburb of Alhambra.