El Paso boy killed as he crossed street was selling chips to help family after his mother’s death

A 13-year-old boy was struck and killed by a truck as he crossed the street Tuesday night.

Brian Velazquez was crossing the Dyer on his scooter, not at an intersection, when a truck hit him. His family would be told by doctors he died.

His sister told ABC-7 Brian didn’t go to school yesterday. They didn’t know it, but they spent most of his last day together.

“We got up, we got ready. We went to Irvin. I basically took him out to eat, took him to buy shoes.He was excited, but he was also really worried because I’m struggling with my bills right now,” said Ofelia Ibarra, the eldest sister.

Their mother died of cancer in April. Ofelia Ibarra, being the eldest, had been taking care of her four siblings and her own two children ever since. Family and friends told ABC-7 he changed drastically after losing his mom, made suicidal statements, skipping school and experimenting with marijuana.

His sister told ABC-7 Brian got anxious around recent money problems and wanted to help. Tuesday evening he went out to sell chips and cupcakes.

“I remember I was eating. I was sitting down in the kitchen and I remember him telling me ‘Ana ya me voy, ya me voy en la scooter’,” Ofelia said.

That would be the last time she saw him alive. He left with his 14-year-old sister Sharlyn.

She would later see him cross the street on his scooter. A car was quickly approaching.

“My sister tells me that the truck was in a lane and with no signal he went to the other one. And when he was in the middle lane apparently he got hit once by the corner of the truck. He automatically of course fell to the floor and the truck didn’t stop,” Ofelia said.

Sharlyn saw the truck tire hit Brian in the face. She called their older sister right away.

“When I got there he had a lot of blood on his face. A lot on his stomach,” Ofelia said.

Police didn’t let family get on the ambulance. They instead drove to the hospital where a doctor told them Brian had died.

“At that point I was just shocked. I was thinking is this a joke? Are they trying to play games with my head right now? I didn’t know what to think, I didn’t know how to act,” Ofelia said.

His death came at the worst time, Brian was turning his life around.

“He was trying to change. Just yesterday he was telling me he was excited to go to irvin, that he was going to be in high school already, he was gonna do good. He wanted to graduate. He was gonna stop everything he was doing. He was going to stop smoking. He was asking me for help yesterday. Help that we couldn’t get,” Ofelia said.

As support from friends and family pours in Ofelia said she just needs to be strong for all her family.

The family has set up a GoFundMe to help them with expenses as they struggle through these times. You can donate by clicking this link.

The funeral itself will be covered by Operation HOPE and Funeraria del Angel Restlawn.

KVIA 2019