I can’t believe that, for the second time in three months, a silver Subaru has been wrathfully driven directly into the offices of a car dealership. Just this past December, we wrote about a guy who plowed through the showroom glass of a Utah car dealership when they wouldn’t let him return the silver Outback he’d bought there. This weekend, a bizarrely similar incident took place at a Southern California CarMax. Once again, a silver Outback was caught on camera crashing into the showroom. Different car and different situations, but still, that’s weird, right?
The recent calamity took place on the afternoon of March 8, at a CarMax store in Inglewood, California. CarMax told KTLA that a customer had been getting his vehicle appraised. The ABC outlet initially reported: “Witnesses said the customer apparently didn’t like the offer, snapped and got back into his parked car. After a couple attempts, he drove through the front door.”
Update: As of March 12, CarMax emailed us more details and context:
“According to accounts from employees who interacted with the suspect that day, he did not complain about the offer and even spent time looking at our inventory for potential purchase. Employees share that they observed his behavior turn suddenly erratic, but they did not perceive it to be related to the appraisal offer. We continue to review all information available to fully understand this incident.”
Eight people are said to have been injured, two critically, and as you can see from the news clip, it was a pretty intense automotive rampage. The car didn’t just comedically pop in and come to a halt like the Kool-Aid man, it’s seen smashing through the door and whipping around inside the office before making an exit at the other side of the room. Looks like the driver made a few attempts to bash the car in going forwards before reversing and using the tailgate as a wrecking ball.
The raging driver has not been publicly named, at least not where I could find it at the time of this writing, but they are said to have been “quickly detained and arrested” and are now in the custody of the Inglewood Police Department.
CarMax itself issued the following statement at the time of the incident:
“Statement regarding incident at Inglewood, California CarMax Store: This afternoon, a customer drove through our Inglewood, California store, hitting and injuring several employees and customers who are receiving medical care at this time.”
I won’t bother speculating on what was going through this guy’s mind when he decided to weaponize his vehicle against innocent bystanders. But his extremely dangerous tantrum definitely did not result in a better appraisal for his now-trashed car.
Another statement and update was issued by CarMax on March 11:
“We are profoundly shocked and heartbroken by the horrific act that occurred on Saturday, March 8, at our Inglewood, California store, when an individual drove through the showroom, injuring one CarMax employee and several customers. [This is an update – we have confirmed that only one employee, rather than two, was injured.] The CarMax employee was treated at the hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and released. We understand that several customers also received medical care, but we do not have an update on their conditions. We are thankful for local law enforcement’s swift response and arrest of the individual allegedly responsible.
We want to extend our deepest gratitude to the broader Inglewood community for their outpouring of support during this awful event.
As this remains an active investigation, we continue to ask that all inquiries be directed to the appropriate authorities.”
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