LOS ANGELES, Jan. 27 -- Authorities have filed murder charges against the handyman whose abandoned plan to commit suicide by parking his Jeep Cherokee on train tracks derailed two commuter trains, killing 11 people and injuring nearly 200 in the nation's deadliest rail accident in six years.
Juan Manuel Alvarez was charged with 10 counts of murder and, with the discovery of the 11th victim after those charges were filed Wednesday, another count will be added, Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley said Thursday.
A Union Pacific locomotive parked on a side track was knocked onto its side.
(Robert Galbraith -- Reuters)
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Maps and a graphic show the location and the sequence of events leading up to the wreck.
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Video: The crash scene.
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Because of the multiple deaths and the train derailment, Alvarez, 25, of Compton, Calif., is eligible for the death penalty.
"It stuns the imagination that one person, for apparently selfish reasons -- whether he's distraught or depressed or whatever -- would engage in such reckless behavior that would create the high probability of harm to others," Cooley said. "It's beyond comprehension."
The crash occurred Wednesday morning in the suburb of Glendale as a train heading to downtown Los Angeles smashed into Alvarez's Jeep. He had jumped from the vehicle seconds before and watched as the train struck a parked Union Pacific locomotive and then crashed into a commuter train headed in the opposite direction.
The injured were sent to more than a dozen hospitals, overwhelming blood supplies. Several medical centers and the Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles issued an urgent call for blood donations. At least 24 people remained in critical condition Thursday.
Alvarez was arrested at the scene and taken to a Los Angeles hospital, where he was treated for self-inflicted superficial wounds to his wrists and chest, officials said. He is under suicide watch and is scheduled to be arraigned Friday.
When his injuries occurred is in dispute. Several passengers told authorities they saw Alvarez slitting his wrists after witnessing the accident. Officials initially said Alvarez had tried to commit suicide the night before maneuvering his vehicle onto the tracks.
In November, Alvarez's wife, Carmelita, filed for a restraining order against her husband, saying he had threatened her and her family. He had never assaulted her or her children, she wrote.
"He threatened to take our kid away and to hurt my family members," she wrote in the court filing. "He is planning on selling his vehicle to buy a gun and threatened to use it."
Alvarez was also a heavy drug user and had begun experiencing hallucinations, she wrote. He accused her of having affairs and specifically threatened her brother, who he thought was introducing her to other men, she wrote.
The restraining order was granted Dec. 14. It prevented Alvarez from seeing his 6-year-old stepdaughter and 3-year-old son.
At the crash site, efforts turned to cleanup and evidence collection on Thursday and rescue workers struggled to cope with what they had seen.
They described one man who had been trapped in the wreckage and had prepared himself for the worst. Firefighters freed him and carried him out safely.
"When they returned [to the wreckage] they saw he was preparing himself to die," Los Angeles Fire Capt. Carlos Calvillo said. Scrawled in his own blood on the seat in front of him were the words "I (heart) my kids. I (heart) Leslie."
