SAN ANTONIO — Just days before Christmas, two families have been torn apart.
Friday night, 17-year-old James Solis and 15-year-old Jordan Canedo were heading home from the mall. Loved ones say the two friends had been Christmas shopping.
The teenagers got off a bus near Rigsby Avenue and Bonair Drive.
According to police, Solis and Canedo were walking across Rigsby Avenue in a designated crosswalk when they were struck by an eastbound vehicle. The driver fled the scene.
“The driver hit them so hard, their shoes were scattered everywhere,” said Rosa Garcia, Canedo’s legal guardian.
On Sunday, family and friends gathered near the busy intersection. The roadside vigil brought dozens of people together in unimaginable grief.
Instead of planning for the holidays, the victims’ parents are now planning funerals.
“They ran over our children,” sobbed Janie Lara, Canedo’s mother. “They were just teenage boys; they didn’t get to live their lives.”
Family members described Canedo as a quiet, compassionate 15-year-old with dreams of becoming a basketball player.
“He died by crossing the street,” said Johnny Perez, Canedo’s brother. “I ride that bus every day to get to school, and I am going to cross that [street] every day and think of that.”
Armanda Diaz says her son was a “bright kid full of life.” She says Solis was the most genuine young man.
“He aspired to join the military and be a teen counselor for mental health,” said Diaz. “He had compassion to help others always. Everyone who knew and loved him will miss him and his contagious smile.”
Diaz is not just heartbroken, she is furious.
“My son laid there, and he bled out of every part of his body,” cried Diaz. “From his eyes, nose, and ears. [To the driver] How do you live with yourself? Come forward! Take accountability for what you did. You took my life from me; you took the whole reason I am on this earth. I am a strong woman, but burying my child … I was never supposed to do. My son was supposed to bury me. My son was supposed to graduate, get married, have kids. Jordan and James didn’t deserve that. Somebody knows something, come forward.”
Anyone with information on the deadly hit-and-run is urged to call Crime Stoppers at (210) 224-7867. You can remain anonymous.