Authorities identified the nine people killed in a red-light car crash in North Las Vegas.
The crash occurred Saturday when a speeding Dodge Charger drove through a red light, police said, and the victims ranged in age from 5 years old to their 50s. The car was traveling 100 mph in a 35 mph zone, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Clark County Coroner Melanie Rouse said the driver of the Charger, Gary Dean Robinson, 59, and passenger Tanaga Ravel Miller, 46, were killed, as well as seven people – three men and four children – in a Toyota Sienna minivan. According to a verified GoFundMe fundraiser, all seven people in the minivan were family members.
Rouse identified the minivan victims as Fernando Yeshua Mejia, 5; Adrian Zacarias, 10; Lluvia Daylenn Zacarias, 13; Bryan Axel Zacarias, 15; Gabriel Mejia-Barrera, 23; David Mejia-Barrera, 25; and Jose Zacarias-Caldera, 35.
Rouse said all victims died as a result of blunt force injuries from the crash.
North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee called the crash "an unprecedented loss of life."
Erlinda Zacarias, who organized the GoFundMe for funeral costs, said her children, brother and two stepchildren were killed in the crash. "There is no greater pain than losing all your children," Zacarias wrote. The page had raised more than $100,000 Monday afternoon.
Pablo Zacarias Ramirez told the Las Vegas Review-Journal the four minors in the crash were his children. He told the newspaper the family was getting funeral arrangements together Sunday.
Friends of one of the victims told the Review-Journal that Bryan Zacarias was an outgoing and funny person. “He knew everybody,” Alexis Lopez told the newspaper. “He was cool with everybody.”
HORRIFIC CRASH:9 dead after 'chaotic' crash in Las Vegas; children among victims
The crash occurred around 3 p.m. Saturday when the Charger ran the red light through a major intersection, North Las Vegas police officer Alexander Cuevas said. Fifteen people and six cars were involved in the crash, and some of the cars were pushed into a vacant lot.
A 31-year-old woman in one of the cars was hospitalized in critical condition.
The National Transportation Safety Board coordinated an investigation of the crash with police. The tragedy comes less than three weeks after a six-vehicle crash south of Las Vegas left four people dead.
Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones called Saturday's crash "tragic" and urged drivers to slow down.
"Getting to your destination a few seconds earlier isn’t ever worth speeding through a red light," Jones wrote on Twitter.
Contributing: John Bacon, USA TODAY; The Associated Press
