MIAMI SPRINGS, Fla. – Two Miami-Dade County Public Schools students were killed Monday in a car crash in Miami Springs, district spokeswoman Daisy Gonzalez-Diego confirmed Tuesday.
Detective Christopher Sowerby-Thomas, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade County Police Department, identified one of the victims as 18-year-old Gian Carlos Moncada of Miami. The other student, Moncada's passenger, has not yet been identified, Sowerby-Thomas said.
A family friend, who set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for his funeral expenses, identified the passenger as 18-year-old Kevin Davila.
"Kevin's presence was a light on all those who knew him. Kevin just celebrated his 18th birthday and was graduating from Miami Senior High next week," page organizer Carol Mira wrote.
Another fundraising page has been set up for Moncada.
A third person, Omar Izquierdo, 46, of Hialeah, was injured in the crash. Izquierdo is listed in serious condition at Jackson Memorial Hospital, but is expected to recover, police said.
Police said the crash happened around 12:30 p.m. Monday at Northwest 36th Street and Northwest 57th Avenue. Police said the crash involved three vehicles and speed was a factor.
Surveillance video shows one car turning left onto Northwest 57th Avenue when a second car slams into it, sending the first car spinning.
The second car crashed into a pole, shaking the traffic lights, before it caught fire.
Bystanders rushed in, using their own fire extinguishers to put out the flames and trying to save one of the victims trapped inside, but their efforts were unsuccessful.
Crews towed away both cars, which were heavily damaged, along with a third vehicle that was involved in the collision.
The video shows a work truck waiting at the traffic light when the crash occurred right in front of it.
One of the out-of-control cars slammed into the front of the truck.
The medical examiner removed the body of one of the victims who died in the crash. Crews towed the car with the body of the other victim still inside.
Miami-Dade police shut down streets in the area for several hours while they investigated the crash.