Man accused in train crash faces murder charges
Prosecutor: No decision yet on whether to pursue death penalty
 |  Rescuers spent hours pulling the dead and injured from the twisted wreckage of the trains. At least 11 people died. |
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 Commuter trains derail outside Los Angeles, California.
 Authorities announce suspect will face homicide charges.
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GLENDALE, California (CNN) -- A man accused of causing a deadly Southern California train crash has been charged with 11 counts of murder, Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said.
The charges against Juan Manuel Alvarez, 25, include a special circumstance that would make him eligible for the death penalty if convicted, but Cooley said a decision hasn't been made on whether to pursue capital punishment.
Alvarez had been scheduled to appear for arraignment Thursday afternoon. But he was in a hospital suffering from what were described as self-inflicted but non-life-threatening wounds, and the hearing was put off indefinitely for medical reasons, Cooley's office said.
In addition to the 11 dead, nearly 200 people in the crash were hospitalized, Glendale Fire Department Chief Christopher Gray said.
Rescue officials said Thursday that they don't expect to find remains of more victims. A missing woman who may have been on the train has been accounted for and is not among the dead, they said.
FBI and National Transportation Safety Board investigators were dispatched to the site.
On Wednesday, Alvarez parked his Jeep Cherokee on railroad tracks in Glendale as a commuter train approached shortly after 6 a.m., police said.
Initially, Alvarez intended to commit suicide, police said, but he changed his mind. He exited his sport utility vehicle and watched as the Metrolink train hit it, derailed, ran into a northbound Metrolink commuter train and crashed into a parked Union Pacific train, police said.
The district attorney described the evidence against Alvarez as "pretty self-evident."
"He certainly intended to commit the act of train derailment," Cooley said.
Alvarez, whose last known address was in Compton, was taken into custody near the scene, Glendale Police Chief Randy Adams said Wednesday.
Alvarez was treated for superficial wounds -- cuts to his wrist and chest --that were self-inflicted and not caused by the train wreck, Adams said.
"I think he was intent at that time of taking his own life but changed his mind prior to the train actually striking his vehicle," Adams said.
Alvarez's sister-in-law, Maricela Amaya, told Telemundo TV that he separated from his wife, Carmelita, three months ago, according to The Associated Press. She said the wife obtained a court order to keep him away, but he had attempted to see his wife and son, the AP reported.
"He was having problems with drugs and all that and was violent," Amaya was quoted as saying, according to the AP.
"A few other times he went around as if he wanted to kill himself. I said, 'If you're going to kill yourself, go kill yourself far away.' "
Adams said Alvarez has an arrest record for unspecified drug violations and described the suspect as "distraught, remorseful but cooperative."
"We're very confident that he is the correct individual," Adams said. "Not only through his own admissions, but we actually have a couple of witnesses that were on the train that actually saw him fleeing from the vehicle."
Los Angeles Mayor Jim Hahn said the tragedy could have been worse.
"When you saw the wreckage inside those cars, it's a miracle there weren't more people lost," he said.
A passenger said the impact "sounded like the train was dragging something across the tracks in front of it."
"All of a sudden, the lights went out. The train jerked to a stop."
Alvarez apparently changed his mind after driving onto the tracks, but was unsuccessful in his attempts to remove his vehicle, said Glendale Mayor Bob Yousefian.
"The train coming southbound collided with the Jeep, took the vehicle and put it into the undercarriage which, at that point, started the chain of events which caused all this horrible tragedy," Yousefian said.
A massive rescue operation ensued. Gray, the Glendale fire chief, said more than 75 agencies were involved.
Rescuers spent hours working to free the injured. Search-and-rescue teams used infrared cameras to locate victims and in some cases cut away twisted metal.
Immediately after the collision, people inside a nearby Costco store ran to help. The AP reported that they used shopping carts to move some of the injured.
A Costco employee told the AP that an elderly man, whose arms and legs were apparently broken, thanked his rescuers and asked them to pray for him before dying.
Another man, who was trapped, used his blood to write a note to his family, according to the AP.
The man was not identified, but Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Capt. Rex Vilaubi told the AP that he was removed from the wreckage alive.
A law enforcement official identified one of the dead as Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy James Tutino, 47, who was on his way to work.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
