{"id":43119,"date":"2025-11-12T00:23:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T00:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/43119\/"},"modified":"2025-11-12T00:23:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T00:23:16","slug":"apopka-community-gathers-to-remember-3-teens-killed-in-weekend-crash-wftv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/43119\/","title":{"rendered":"Apopka community gathers to remember 3 teens killed in weekend crash \u2013 WFTV"},"content":{"rendered":"

APOPKA, Fla. \u2014 The Apopka community is mourning the deaths of three students after a horrifying traffic crash over the weekend.<\/p>\n

It happened early Sunday around 1:30 a.m. at the intersection of Welch road and Wekiwa Drive in Apopka. <\/p>\n

Monday night, more than a hundred people showed up to honor the boys.<\/p>\n

They gathered near the crash site, bringing balloons, candles, and pictures of the three boys, laying them around the tree where they crashed.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Teens killed in Apopka crash Three teens died and three others were hurt Sunday morning when a tree collided with a tree near Apopka. (WFTV staff)<\/p>\n

It was a very somber moment. Pieces of the vehicle could still be seen scattered across the grass.<\/p>\n

The mothers of at least two of the teens involved in the crash were present Monday night — grieving the losses of their sons.<\/p>\n

Dozens consoled the women.<\/p>\n

State troopers said Julio Lopez, 17, along with 17-year-old Enrique Rodriguez Sabas and 13-year-old Leyner Velasquez were among the 6 people in a 2020 Chevy Silverado.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Apopka fatal crash victims Troopers said 3 teens died in Sunday morning’s crash. (GoFundMe)<\/p>\n

Troopers say the driver lost control on a curve and struck a tree. <\/p>\n

Lopez\u2019s \u2019 mom said the teens were driving back from a quincea\u00f1era.<\/p>\n

Friends and family Monday night remembered Lopez as a person full of life who loved making friends and playing guitar.<\/p>\n

A friend remembered Sabas as someone who would light up a room. \u201cYou can see his smile, feel his smile from a mile away, from a block away. He was very, very loving and caring as well,\u201d said July Jaimes. <\/p>\n

13-year-old Velasquez was only in middle school. He often talked to his friends about going home to see family in Guatemala.<\/p>\n

The families have all set up GoFundMe accounts to help pay for funeral expenses: Enrique Rodriguez Sabas<\/a>, Julio Lopez<\/a>, and Leyner Velasquez<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here<\/a> to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

TOP STORIES FROM WFTV CHANNEL 9<\/p>\n

\u00a92025 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"APOPKA, Fla. \u2014 The Apopka community is mourning the deaths of three students after a horrifying traffic crash…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[10514,1060,2777,28377,28382,28383,28384,28379,28375,1056,28381,28378,27658,13846,28380,28376,634,28385,115,1300,139,141,140,28374,28373,1045,28372,27655],"class_list":["post-43119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-apopka","tag-channel_9","tag-channel_nine","tag-chevy_silverado","tag-chico","tag-chucho","tag-chucky","tag-enrique","tag-enrique_rodriguez_sabas","tag-fhp","tag-guatemala","tag-julio","tag-julio_lopez","tag-kirsten","tag-laner","tag-lena_velasquez","tag-local","tag-martello","tag-news","tag-orange_county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-sam","tag-sam_martella","tag-video","tag-wakawa_drive","tag-welch_road"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}