Friends Raise $500 To Help Family Of Teenager Killed In Crash

In a time of tragedy, dozens of teenagers gathered Monday night to offer a little money and a lot of love to the family of a high school freshman who lost his life in a deadly car crash.

We just went around knocking on doors and saying he was a really close friend,” Vanessa Vita said. “We just wanted to help his family out.”

Police said 14-year-old Hector Heredia was killed in a car crash Sunday night. Investigators said Gilbert Velasquez, also 14, took his mother’s Ford Taurus without permission and then ran a stop sign at Sun Fire Boulevard and Zaragoza Road. The car drove into the path of a H3 Hummer, with a mother and her two young children inside.

The three passengers in the Hummer, Velasquez and three other 15-year-old passengers were taken to the hospital for minor injuries. Police said Heredia was transported to Del Sol Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.

On Monday, more than a dozen teenagers carried signs and shoe boxes filled with more than $500 in donations to help Heredia’s family pay for funeral expenses.

“We just want to make sure he knows that we’re here for him and that we love him,” Avita said. “No matter what, we will never forget him.”‘