COBB COUNTY, Ga. — The families of two teenage boys killed in a tragic car crash earlier this week are speaking out for the first time.
Channel 2′s Veronica Griffin was with the families as they gathered for a vigil at the soccer complex where their sons played.
Esteban Cortez-Rendon, 18, and Gabriel Escandon, 17, were in a car with three of their friends last Tuesday, Cortez-Rendon’s 18th birthday, when it crashed into a tree. Both boys died from their injuries. The other three were all taken to the hospital after the crash.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
The families say both boys loved soccer and were known for their strong faith in God, one of them even started a religious clothing line.
Friends and families gathered at the NASA Tophat facility in Cobb County to remember their friends and loved ones.
“This place we’re standing brought so much happiness to my kid,” Cortez-Rendon’s father Edward Cortez. “It’s helping us to hear all this testimony, getting stronger and stronger.”
Investigators say they believe the driver of the car was speeding.
RELATED STORIES:
- 1 of 2 teens killed in Woodstock crash died on his 18th birthday, friends say
- Community rallying behind family of teen killed in car crash on his 18th birthday
- Injured survivor of crash that killed 2 teens identified as high school soccer player
“Well, it’s sad we’re there, but the last couple of days have been a real notion of, kind of, a person Gabriel was,” his father Camilo Escandon said.
Both families say they are now leaning on what their sons stood firm on, their unwavering faith.
“How he led, how he influenced,” Escandon’s mother Yahaimhar Barile said. “His faith impacted other people.”
The Cobb County School District confirmed that three of the five students in the crash were students in their district.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2023 Cox Media Group
