Funeral Services Held In O.C. For Halloween Hit-And-Run Victims
ORANGE COUNTY (CBSLA.com) — Funeral services were held Saturday morning for three 13-year-old girls that were struck and killed by a vehicle while trick-or-treating in Santa Ana last week.
At 8:30 a.m., services were held for twin sisters Lexi and Lexandra Perez at Our Lady Of Guadalupe Parish in Santa Ana.
Andrea Gonzalez's funeral was held at 9:30 a.m. at Holy Family Cathedral in Orange.
According to authorities, the Perez sisters and friend Gonzalez were all struck around 7:00 p.m. while walking in a marked crosswalk located in the 1400 block of East Fairhaven Avenue.
Officers said 31-year-old Jaquinn Bell of Orange was driving Westbound in his black 2001 Honda CRV when he hit all three of the girls and drove away.
According to police, he pulled off in a nearby parking lot and proceeded to flee on foot with his two children who were traveling in the car.
Bell, who has had prior arrests for crimes including DUI, child endangerment and domestic abuse, was driving without a license at the time of the accident.
He faces three counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, one felony count of hit-and-run with permanent injury or death, one misdemeanor count of driving on a suspended license, with sentencing enhancement allegations for personally inflicting great bodily injury and fleeing the scene of a crime after committing a vehicular manslaughter, the Orange County District Attorney's Office said.
If convicted, Bell faces a maximum sentence of 17 years in state prison. He is being held on $1 million.
On Friday night, family and friends gathered for a rosary and wake to remember the three victims at Holy Family Cathedral in Orange and the MacDougall Family Mortuary.
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