West Side Family Mourns Loss Of Father, Brother In Head-On Crash

Two West El Paso families were left grieving and making funeral arrangements for loved ones Monday after each lost a family member in the same early Sunday morning head-on crash.

According to El Paso police, 49-year-old Gerardo Nunez and 42-year-old Greg Ayala died after Ayala’s Jeep strayed onto the wrong side of the road and crashed into Nunez’s truck near Doniphan and Montoya. Toxicology reports on Ayala are pending.

Nunez’s family described him as the ultimate sports fan, handyman, grandfather, father, brother and friend — the kind of guy everyone liked.

“He was always there for us,” said his brother, Rafa Nunez, pointing out Gerardo would have turned 50 next month. “He tried to avoid (the Jeep). He pulled over and from what witnesses say, he slowed down.”

But Nunez was unable to avoid the oncoming Jeep of Ayala’s, who witnesses told police had been driving erratically just before the wreck. Ayala was also killed.

“At the moment, I don’t feel any anger towards anybody,” Rafa Nunez said. “I think I’m more angry I’m never going to see my brother again.”

Nunez’s sister, Paola, was in tears.

“We come from a big family and unfortunately, he was the first one to go,” Paola Nunez said of her brother, who was one of 10 children and had three children of his own and two grandchildren. “The past few years, he really was trying to have a very good relationship with his kids. And he was crazy about his grandkids.”

Nunez’s daughter, whose name is also Paola, said her dad played with her 3-year-old son, Caleb, “like nobody else.”

“Just last week, I went to pick up my kid from his house and my kid is on his bike in the driveway and (Gerardo) is on some other kid’s bike riding around right behind him. It was the silliest thing I’ve ever seen,” she said.

Nunez is struggling with how to tell her son that Grandpa is gone.

“I pick him up from school and the first thing he always says is, ‘Let’s call Abuelo!’,” Paola Nunez said. “I’m dreading when I pick him up and he tells me that.”

Nunez’s sister called him “a good human being,” adding that there were “so many people who really loved him and cared for him.”

Rafa Nunez said his brother’s death will be difficult to overcome.

“The whole family is in shock,” he said. “I think it’s going to get worse before it gets better for us. I think we’re going to go through some very tough days coming up.”

ABC-7 also spoke briefly with members of Ayala’s family. They said they didn’t know where Ayala was coming from early Sunday morning or if he was drinking.