Vigil Held For 5 Teens Killed In Fiery Irvine Crash
SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO (CBSLA.com) — A vigil was held Sunday for five high school students killed in a fiery crash in Irvine early Saturday morning.
The five friends, all aged between 14 and 15, were coming from from an evening at Knott's Scary Farm.
The vigil was held at Capistrano Valley High School in Orange County.
KCAL9's Laurie Perez said hundreds of friends, family and neighbors were quite understandably emotional at the sudden loss of life.
They also prayed for the lone survivor.
Three males and two females were killed. The 16-year-old male driver -- the sole survivor -- remains in serious condition at the hospital. He had a serious skull fracture and underwent brain surgery Saturday.
The three boys -- Brandon Moreno, Alex Sotelo and Matthew Melo -- all played soccer together. The two girls -- Jenny Campos and Jenny Bahena -- played water polo at Laguna Hills High School.
The CHP said the driver, Bradley Morales, was thrown from the fiery crash. He was unlicensed.
Officials said the car drifted off the road for an unknown reason and hit a guardrail and then slammed into a concrete retaining wall. The car burst into flames trapping the five passengers.
Authorities are still trying to determine who the car belonged to.
It was also unclear if Morales' parents gave him keys to the vehicle or if he took them without their permission which could determine if they could face possible charges.
Perez said the location was chosen because two of the deceased male victims (Sotelo and Melo) were students there. Moreno attended Carl Hankey Middle School in Mission Viejo.
Many who attended the vigil knew the six teens involved -- many other did not. But "everyone was in shock and pain," Perez reported.
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