Latest news with #ValleyHigh
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Yahoo
Family identifies sisters in horrific Santa Ana crash that left 4 teens dead
Two sisters among the six victims of a violent and deadly crash in Santa Ana over the weekend have been identified by family members. Primarily teens, four of the victims were declared deceased at the scene, with two others hospitalized, one in critical condition and another in 'grave condition,' authorities said. Officers with the Santa Ana Police Department responded to reports of the single-vehicle crash on April 5 at around 11:30 p.m. near the intersection of West Segerstrom Avenue and South Townsend Street. Upon arriving at the scene, officers discovered there were six people — five females and one male — inside the car at the time of the collision. Their preliminary investigation revealed that the 18-year-old male driver was traveling at high speed westbound on Segerstrom where he reportedly missed a turn and crashed into a tree. At least two of the victims were ejected from the car and a nearby black sedan sustained minor damage, but no one inside the latter vehicle was hurt. Video footage obtained by KTLA shows the aftermath of the crash with a large law enforcement presence along Segerstrom as firefighters ascended a ladder to access the mangled vehicle, which was damaged beyond recognition next to a tree in the center median. As family members and friends grieve, many showing their respects at a growing memorial at the site of the crash, Ignacio Robles, the father of two of the girls involved, mourned the loss of his 19-year-old daughter Aurelia 'Arely' Robles. 2 sets of sisters among victims in deadly single-car crash in Santa Ana 'She was calm, didn't talk. She worked and all the money she made, she gave to her mom,' Ignacio told KTLA's Chip Yost in Spanish. 'She was a good daughter. She loved her mom very much.' His other daughter, 15-year-old Arlene Robles, survived the devastating collision. She was rushed to the hospital in critical condition where she remains stable. 'They are going to do surgery on her,' Ignacio explained. 'She's a bit disfigured, but she is stable.' Authorities have not officially released the identities of any of the victims, including another pair of sisters in the vehicle during the crash. According to friends who spoke to KTLA, the group of teens were connected through Valley High and Carr Intermediate schools in Santa Ana. 'Words cannot express the heartbreak and grief our family is feeling,' Jasmin Robles, a sister to two of the victims, wrote in a GoFundMe organized to help the family with funeral expenses. 'Arely was a bright light in all of our lives – loving, kind and full of dreams.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Yahoo
A teen girl died in a Sacramento car crash. Her teacher needs help memorializing her
A new scholarship for Valley High School seniors will honor Kaylee Xiong, a talented graphic design student who was killed in a South Sacramento crash last September. She was 18. Brandy Shearer, who taught Xiong, is raising $10,000 for the Kaylee Xiong Memorial Scholarship. Shearer said a group of student leaders in the program spearheaded the plan to award $1,000 annually to a Valley High senior who has completed the school's series of graphic design classes. Anyone can donate to the scholarship online at Shearer said her students came up with the idea as a community service project. Most of the students in the leadership group are juniors and seniors who knew Xiong. 'She was really well-loved,' Shearer said. 'She was always standing up for kids, too. If she saw something, she would say something.' Xiong was riding an electric scooter home from the light rail station on Franklin Boulevard near Cosumnes River Boulevard a little after 6 p.m. Sept. 4, 2024, when she was fatally struck by the driver of a Kia Optima. She graduated from Valley High in 2024, and, at the time of her death, had just started her first semester at Sacramento State. Xiong died on the city's 'high-injury network' — those city streets where the highest numbers of severe and fatal crashes occur. Sacramento identified this network as part of its Vision Zero efforts. The vast majority of severe crashes are preventable with changes to infrastructure, and the City Council made a Vision Zero pledge in 2017 to eliminate all traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2027. Although the city is not on track to meet the council's goal, the Department of Public Works proposed a 'quick-build' program last month that would fast-track smaller-scale safety projects. Such a program could make a dent in Sacramento's rising death toll. The collision that killed Xiong was one of 32 fatal crashes The Sacramento Bee covered in 2024. So far, at least three people have died in vehicle crashes on city streets this year: Najah Islam, 30; Jonathon T. Slaugh, 62; and Adrienne Keyana Johnson, 33. The vast majority of these 35 deadly crashes since 2024 have killed people who, like Xiong, were not in cars. Out of the 35 dead, 22 were pedestrians or cyclists, and two were riding electric scooters. Xiong's father, Johnny Vang, did not respond to a request for a comment on the scholarship, but Shearer said online that Xiong's family planned to match the first $1,000 in donations. Xiong was born April 19, 2006. As a high school student, Shearer wrote, she 'set incredibly high standards for herself.' Xiong 'was smart, driven and competitive — but also knew exactly when to take it easy and enjoy the moment.' After graduating, she began studying graphic design at Sacramento State, where her older brother, Nicholas Xiong, was also a student. Neng Yang, Xiong's mother, told the college paper that her teenage daughter was crafty and conjured beautiful rose bouquets out of satin. The little sister Xiong loved to play with, Harperlynn, turned 1 in October, two months after the teenager's death. Shearer said that Xiong used to linger by her desk at Valley High School and show off photos of the baby girl. 'Kaylee made the world a brighter place,' Shearer wrote, and every donation to the scholarship, 'will help create opportunities for students who, like Kaylee, dream big and love deeply.'
