Less than a mile from Boswell High School in Fort Worth, a memorial for two teenaged brothers killed in a car crash Wednesday afternoon is growing.
Isaiah Lopez was a senior and his younger brother Elijah Lopez was a freshman, Boswell High School principal Nika Davis confirmed in a statement. Both were killed Wednesday when police say they collided head-on with a large pick-up truck on the 5000 block of West Bailey Boswell Road around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
In an update emailed Thursday, a Fort Worth Police Department spokesperson said witnesses reported the car carrying the brothers was traveling in the eastbound lanes at a high rate of speed when the driver lost control and entered the westbound lanes of traffic. The car collided with another car in the westbound lane carrying three people.
Two people in the car were transported to the hospital for their injuries. Information regarding the extent of their injuries was not released by police, nor were their identities. The third occupant was treated and medically released on the scene Wednesday.
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Anita Tenorio, a mother of a Boswell High School student, said she has known the family for years. Both brothers played baseball, Tenorio said.
“The younger one Elijah was just … we just had him. My husband just coached him Saturday morning here at Bos,” she said. “He was just so excited to be out there, you know? My husband was actually fortunate to coach both of them during fall and summer."
A GoFundMe page set up for funeral and memorial expenses raised more than $100,000 by 4:30 p.m. Thursday. A spokesperson for GoFundMe confirmed all funds will be transferred to and accessed by the boys’ mother, Clarissa Lopez.
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“Saturday she [Clarissa] was just gloating on them, you know? So excited they were both in high school together. It just hurts. Our community is hurting for the family, for sure,” Tenorio said. “Those boys are her life.”
A vigil was held outside Boswell High School on the baseball field Wednesday evening hours after the crash, according to an Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD spokesperson.
Greg Holle, director of the select baseball team Fort Worth Texans Baseball Club, said the brothers are known for their talent for the sport but they will be remembered for more than that.
“It’s surreal even talking about it, seeing all of the stuff people post. They’re, to a tee, what you want as a parent,” he said. “The respect level, the upbringing, the work ethic. It was all there.
Isaiah was with the baseball club for three years and Elijah was likely set to play with them in the future, Holle said.
“The baseball side in this, for me, is yeah … OK, it was the way we met, but in the grand scheme of who they were … it’s so insanely irrelevant because it’s everything else,” he said. “You see it directly. You see Clarissa, you see their mom, working her tail off, doing all of this stuff to provide for these kids. Never missed a beat. That stuff just trickled down. They’re what you want. They’re what you aspire your kids to shake out as and it was, then you get word of this.”
As the family moves forward, Tenorio said they are asking the community to support them in any way they can.
“They’re everybody’s boys. Absolutely, they are. Huge community behind them,” she said. “I want the community to continue to pray for them and be there for the family, you know? Not just on what happened. I don’t focus on what happened. Focus on the family, the mom, the little brother Jacob, the dad.”
The crash is being investigated by the Traffic Investigation Unit with Fort Worth police.
