{"id":304036,"date":"2026-05-22T04:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T04:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/304036\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T04:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T04:48:10","slug":"community-mourns-14-year-old-aledo-student-killed-in-atv-crash-hours-before-graduation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/304036\/","title":{"rendered":"Community mourns 14-year-old Aledo student killed in ATV crash hours before graduation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Aledo community is mourning the loss of 14-year-old Brayden Martin after school officials confirmed the 8th grader was killed in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/texas\/tag\/atv-accident\/\" target=\"_blank\" data-absolute=\"true\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ATV crash<\/a> Wednesday night, just hours before he was supposed to graduate middle school.<\/p>\n<p>Aledo Independent School District confirmed Martin&#8217;s death to CBS News Texas. An Aledo ISD trustee and Martin&#8217;s select baseball team also said the crash involved an ATV.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement to families, the district said extra support staff were on campus Thursday for students and teachers grieving the loss.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We had extra support at Aledo Middle School this morning for our students and staff,&#8221; the district wrote in part. &#8220;We have asked our entire community to pray for Brayden&#8217;s family, friends and teachers.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Martin&#8217;s death has sent shockwaves through the close-knit North Texas community, where friends, classmates and teammates have shared tributes online.<\/p>\n<p>His select baseball team, the Wildcatters NTX 14U Place, posted a heartfelt message honoring their teammate.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Brayden was more than a teammate \u2014 he was family,&#8221; the team wrote. &#8220;His love for the game, his smile, and the impact he made on everyone around him will never be forgotten.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The post continued: &#8220;Our thoughts and prayers are with the Martin family, his teammates, coaches, and all who knew and loved him during this unimaginable time. Forever a Wildcatter. Forever #10.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Shane Davis also shared condolences online as memories and prayers poured in across social media.<\/p>\n<p>Another Aledo family says they understand the unimaginable grief the Martins are now facing.<\/p>\n<p>Glen Bates lost his 11-year-old son, Noah, in a UTV crash four years ago while riding on a ranch with friends. Bates told CBS News Texas that the pain of losing a child never goes away.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You know, when you lose a child, you enter into a club that no parent ever wants to be a part of,&#8221; Glen Bates said. &#8220;And, it&#8217;s a lifelong journey.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Glen Bates said his son was thrown from the vehicle after the boys lost control. He was killed instantly.<\/p>\n<p>After Noah Bates&#8217; death, the Bates family created the Noah Bates Memorial Foundation, focused on ATV and UTV safety education and training.<\/p>\n<p>Federal safety data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission shows children under 16 make up a significant number of ATV-related deaths and injuries nationwide. A majority of those deaths are boys.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These accidents are preventable,&#8221; Glen Bates said. &#8220;It just takes engagement. It takes conversation.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Martin&#8217;s family has asked for privacy as the community continues to rally around them.<\/p>\n<p>\n          More from CBS News\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Aledo community is mourning the loss of 14-year-old Brayden Martin after school officials confirmed the 8th grader&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[110121,430,7812,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-304036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-atv-accident","tag-north-texas","tag-parker-county","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}