A single lighted candle was placed on a utility box on Fairhaven Avenue surrounded by yellow crime scene tape commemorating the death of three 13-year-old girls who were killed on Saturday by a hit-and-run-driver while trick-or-treating in Santa Ana.
Police are still searching for two black male suspects who drove a black Honda CR-V and ran over the girls. They abandoned the vehicle a short distance from the Santa Ana crosswalk where the girls were hit. Orange County fire Capt. Steve Concialdi said that two of the girls were killed immediately, and that a third girl died as paramedics prepared to take her to a hospital.
The Daily News reported that the twin sisters were Lexi and Lexandra Perez, and the third victim was Andrea Gonzalez.
Maria Ramirez, 14, who lives in the neighborhood where the incident took place, said that she attended middle school with the twins and just saw them on Friday. “I can’t believe it happened,” Ramirez said as she stood with others who were watching the aftermath of police activity. “They were fun, good girls.”
The Daily Mail reported that Briana Magana, 13, said she attended Santiago Charter Middle School with one of the victims.
She recounted that she had attended a dance with one of the girls earlier in the day and had later gone for lunch at McDonald’s.
“It’s unbelievable how something like this could happen,” Briana said. “She always had a smile, she would light up the room, and she was just a really good student.”
Santa Ana Department Cpl. Anthony Bertagna, who spoke with Breitbart News on Saturday, said that the suspects driving the Honda CR-V were two black males. Bertagna also told a local TV station that they had “left these three young women laying in the street, and left without calling, without stopping, without rendering aid. It’s hard to even fathom doing that.”
Bertagna added that “At this point, we need the community’s help, anybody that saw these individuals. Did they call somebody? Did they get picked up? Were they seen running on foot past the freeway?”
Breitbart News will continue to follow this developing story.