2 Children Killed on California Freeway After Running into Traffic to Retrieve Fallen Luggage
Amy Monserrat Beltran, 16, and Alan Gerardo Aguilar, 10, were hit by a car on SR-78 in North San Diego County on Sunday night
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Amy Monserrat Beltran and Alan Gerardo AguilarTwo children were killed when they ran out into traffic on a busy North San Diego County freeway on Sunday, authorities said.
The victims, 16-year-old Amy Monserrat Beltran and 10-year-old Alan Gerardo Aguilar, were retrieving a piece of luggage that had fallen from the GMC Yukon in which they were riding, according to ABC affiliate KGTV and NBC affiliate KNSD-TV.
Their mother, Sandra Ortiz, 33, had pulled the car over on the shoulder of the eastbound lanes of SR-78, just east of Mar Vista, so that the kids could exit the vehicle, California Highway Patrol told several news outlets.
When Amy and Alan entered the freeway, they were hit by a white Nissan Sentra, and were pronounced dead at the scene, per KGTV.
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A representative for CHP did not immediately return PEOPLE’s request for further comment.
After further investigation of the incident, police arrested Ortiz and charged her with driving under the influence, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and child endangerment, per KNSD-TV.
The children’s father, Miguel Aguilar, and an aunt told the news station that four other children were in the Yukon at the time of the accident.
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Aguilar said his family of eight has been homeless and sleeping in the car. Ortiz and the six kids were on their way to buy a present for him for Father’s Day.
The father added that he does not hold his wife accountable for Amy and Alan's deaths.
"She’s my wife in my heart," Aguilar said about Ortiz, whom he has been with for 13 years. "I love her to death. I hope that one day she sees this and knows that I do love her. And I don’t hold anything against her for the loss of our kids. It's not her fault."
A GoFundMe has been set up in memory of the children; it had raised about $13,000 as of Tuesday morning.
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