The families of four friends are mourning a devastating loss after the group was reportedly killed when a speeding 18-wheeler crashed into their vehicle during a road trip in Texas last week.
Authorities say the collision happened on the afternoon of Nov. 5, about 10 miles south of Dalhart, according to reports from CBS affiliate KHOU, ABC affiliate KVII and the Amarillo Globe-News, which cited information from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).
Investigators stated that the four friends were traveling south in a Nissan Altima that had slowed due to a flat tire when a semi-truck struck the vehicle from behind.
The Altima’s driver, 20-year-old Myunique Johnson, and passengers Lakeisha Brown, 18, Breanna Brantley, 31, and Taylor White, 28, were all pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities confirmed that each of them was wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash.
“My heart doesn’t only go out to my daughter, it goes out to the other three families. This is just a tragedy,” said Earlean Patt, mother of victim Lakeisha Brown, in an interview with KHOU. A balloon release was held on Wednesday, Nov. 12, in her honor.
“There were some beautiful young ladies with bright futures ahead of them. [Their lives were] tragically cut short and the families need answers and justice,” family attorney Rodney Jones told KHOU.
KVII reported that the semi-truck driver, identified as 39-year-old Daniel Villarreal Guadalupe, “failed to control [his] speed.” He was taken to Dalhart’s Coon Memorial Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the Globe-News.
The crash remains under investigation, and DPS has not yet provided additional comment.
