A North Texas family is devastated after learning their little girl was the student killed in Wednesday’s bus crash in Mesquite.
Scorched school books and supplies mark the spot of the crash along Lawson Road in Mesquite.
There is also a growing memorial of flowers, balloons and a doll.
The school bus crash and fire claimed the life of 12-year-old Jazmine Alfaro Villarreal.
Outside her family’s home nearby, her family stands in tears, hugging and praying together.
Jazmine's grandmother, Maria Martinez, cries in the arms of a relative.
Two of her daughters and other grandkids at her side.
“I want to believe it’s not [Jazmine] that they say. That she’s not in that burnt bus,” she said in Spanish.
Jazmine’s 11-year-old sister, Jaylene, sits outside with the family, still wearing school clothes.
The girl looks visibly shocked.
She occasionally asks her sister’s whereabouts.
Martinez said the two were inseparable.
“They are sweet, loving girls,” she said.
Jaylene was on the same school bus as her sister on Wednesday afternoon.
She says she saw Jazmine toward the front of the bus after the crash but could not get to her because the flames grew larger.
“I can’t believe this happened. She did not deserve to die like that,” said Martinez.
Jazmine wanted to be a chef like her grandma or an artist, according to family.
“She was my little girl,” said Martinez. “She was so young. It’s something we just can’t understand.”
The family wants answers as to what exactly happened and whether the bus driver tried to save Jazmine.
A Go Fund Me account has been established to help the Villarreal family with funeral expenses and other expenses related to the crash.
