Friends and community pay respects to Kendall teens who died in crash
Dozens of lighted candles, makeshift crosses, flowers and teddy bears sat neatly along a fence near a Kendall overpass on Friday to honor the lives of Anthony Gago, 15, and Jazmin Keltz, 14, after a tragic car crash Wednesday.
In the hours following the announcement of the death of Jazmin, who was taken off life support Friday afternoon, more than a dozen friends of the teens and community members came to say their goodbyes and pray.
READ MORE: Girl in crash dies after life support is cut; teen driver killed. Cops say he was fleeing
Michael Valdes, 11, paid his respects at the memorial Friday, placing flowers with his mother, Kenia Sequeira, and his sister.
Michael and Jazmin were friends and attended karate classes at Tiger & Dragon Miami in West Kendall.
“Jazmin was a very kind-hearted person,” Michael said while holding back tears. “I really miss her.”
Sequeira said it has been hard for her children because they hung out with Jazmin in and out of the karate studio.
“Her smile, her laughter, that is what we are going to remember,” she said. Sequeira and her family wanted “[Jazmin’s] spirit to know that we are here for her and we are praying for her, her family and her siblings.”
Jazmin was a freshman and Anthony was a sophomore at West Kendall’s John A. Ferguson Senior High School.
In the early hours of Wednesday, Anthony was driving his mother’s Audi, without permission, with Jazmin in the passenger seat, the Miami-Dade Police Department said. Officers in the area were looking for a “suspicious car” whose description matched the Audi.
The Miami Herald was not able to immediately reach his family to confirm.
An officer drove up to Anthony and signaled him to pull over — the department could not confirm if a chase took place. But Anthony sped away, police said, and crashed into a concrete pillar. He died at the scene.
Jazmin was critically injured and underwent several surgeries at HCA Kendall Trauma Center. On Friday afternoon, her family’s attorney, Michael Feiler, said she was taken off life support because she was brain-dead.
“Jazmin’s family had to make the tough decision of disconnecting her from life-support,” Feiler wrote in an email. “The Keltz family thanks the community for the outpouring of support in this very difficult time. We look forward to finding out how and why this happened and we will leave no stone unturned.”
The makeshift memorial near the overpass where the crash took place initially had messages in memory of Anthony, but messages for Jazmin were soon added after her death.
“Miss y’all both,” someone wrote on a wooden cross.
Another wrote, “You’ll stay (for)ever in our hearts.”
“I love you Jaz, rest easy,” somebody wrote on the outside of a candle jar.
Danny Garcia, a cousin of Anthony, told the Miami Herald, “Anthony was a bright and compassionate young man who will be sorely missed.”
Miguel Angel, 18, was one community member who came to the vigil even though he did not directly know the teens. He went to support a friend who knew Anthony.
“I don’t want it to happen to anybody,” Angel said.
Ralph Linero, 75, came to pay respects, too, but he also was using the crash as a learning lesson for his twin 11-year-old daughters, Rebecca and Gabriela. Linero’s daughter, Erica, died in a crash in 1995, he said.
“I wanted to show them that these kids, full of life, went out of the house and [lost] their lives,” he said. “You have a family that is totally devastated. I grieve with their family because I know what they are going through.”
“It brings back memories,” he said. “It makes me think about what I went through and the unimaginable pain that family is going through.”
Mia Andrade, 13, brought a candle to the vigil with her mother and brother. Mia was an old classmate of Jazmin’s at Bridgeprep Academy Charter School.
“She was a really nice person and was really fun to hang around with,” she said. “She was just such a good person to be around with. I still can’t believe that she is dead.”
Even though they hadn’t talked in a while, Mia said she had to come to the vigil.
“I wanted to pray for her,” Mia said. “She didn’t deserve what happened to her.”
This story was originally published November 10, 2023 at 9:22 PM.
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