At least 30 people have been injured when a vehicle drove into a crowd outside a club on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles, the city’s fire department and local media reports say.

At least seven people were in critical condition and six others were seriously injured, the fire department said in an online statement.

Reuters was not immediately able to contact the city’s police department.

The incident occurred just before 2am, the fire department said.

Captain Adam VanGerpen, a fire department spokesman, was quoted by US broadcaster ABC News as saying that a paramedic assessing one of the injured found a gunshot wound.

He said he was unable to confirm reports that it was the driver of the car that hit the crowd.

The car, he said, apparently first careened into a taco truck outside the venue and then ploughed through a valet stand and into a large group of people.

He said that a line of people – the majority female – were waiting to enter a nightclub when they were struck by a Nissan Versa.

Videos posted on X showed roads being sealed off and patients being taken away in ambulances.

Authorities gave no immediate details on the cause of the incident or the identity of the driver.

-with AAP