Two middle-school students are dead and another has been arrested after a possible street racing crash in southwest Houston Wednesday morning.
Family members identified the two students that were killed as 15-year-old Javier Hunter and 15-year-old Savyion Farley.
The wreck happened just after 2 a.m. on West Fuqua near Hiram Clarke.
Police say they saw two SUVs speeding eastbound on West Fuqua. As an officer pulled out to stop the vehicles, one SUV clipped the other, sending it into a school zone sign and then a median.
The SUV went airborne and slammed into a tree. The impact was so strong, it knocked down the tree.
The driver and the passenger, both 8th graders, were killed. The driver’s aunt owns the blue SUV that the driver and passenger were inside.
According to the victim’s aunt, a 16-year-old friend called her nephew and said they should go racing, so he took her keys.
“Parents, double check your kids when they ask you for your keys. He’s only 15 years old. I should have seen the warning signs, but I didn’t. I usually catch him, but I didn’t catch him this morning. The result of that took his life,” the victim’s aunt said.
The aunt also told reporters the 16-year-old involved was in a black SUV.
Police say he initially stopped, but it appears he tried to leave the scene. He is now in custody. It will be up to the district attorney to decide if criminal charges will be filed.
“The officer said they were right next to each other going at a high rate of speed. So we don’t know if they were racing, if they knew each other or if they were just driving fast. We’re not sure. That will be part of the investigation,” said HPD Lt. Larry Crowson.
