Skip to content Skip to Content

Community mourns loss of high school seniors after deadly crash

<i>KSBW via CNN Newsource</i><br/>The community is grieving the loss of three Hollister High School students who lost their lives Tuesday evening in a car crash on Shore Road.
Arif, Merieme
KSBW via CNN Newsource
The community is grieving the loss of three Hollister High School students who lost their lives Tuesday evening in a car crash on Shore Road.

By Brooke Kinebrew

Click here for updates on this story

    HOLLISTER, California (KSBW) — The community is grieving the loss of three Hollister High School students who lost their lives Tuesday evening in a car crash on Shore Road.

A fourth teen is recovering in the hospital.

“I’ve never really been through this. Losing someone pretty close to me. When I heard the news, I couldn’t go to bed. I don’t know how to handle it,” said George Perez, one of the victim’s friends.

Long-time friends and classmates of one of the three victims, Anzhel Villegas-Lemus, who have known him since second grade, say the hardest part is knowing they’ll never see him again.

“He was very genuine, really cool. He’s really a soft cat, but it kind of sucks to think about it, to be like a genuine friend that we’ve known for so long is not here anymore,” said David Salecdo, a friend and classmate of Villegas-Lemus. “It feels off totally. I have that class with him today, and it was just really weird to sit in a classroom and have a seat next to mine, and it be empty.”

The principal of Hollister High School says their deaths are a huge loss. Students and staff are devastated and leaning on one another for support.

“When the news came in about this accident, it was really heartbreaking for me,” said Hollister High School principal Kevin Medeiros. “I’m personally close with several of these students, so when I found out who the students were, it was a little bit of that shock factor at first, and then immediately I went into, what am I going to do to help support our school community because we are very tight-knit community here.”

Hollister High School and the San Benito County District are providing support to students and staff through grief counseling, mental health clinicians, and after-school support sessions.

“It’s a feeling of sadness, but also, you can feel that sense of community,” Medeiros said. “You can see everyone coming together, working for each other, having each other’s back, and really powering through this sad day. So there’s definitely that extreme sense of sadness, but you can also just feel the teamwork and the relationships coming together and working together to fight through this.”

The school plans to honor the students with a moment of silence Thursday morning.

“I’m going to keep the memories that I made with their son alive, and I won’t forget him, and I know a lot of other people won’t forget him, and we all know where he is right now,” Salcedo said.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.

Article Topic Follows: CNN - Regional

Jump to comments ↓

Author Profile Photo

CNN Newsource

BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION

KVIA ABC 7 is committed to providing a forum for civil and constructive conversation.

Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. You can review our Community Guidelines by clicking here

If you would like to share a story idea, please submit it here.