A 15-year-old freshman at Westlake Excessive College in Thousand Oaks was killed Tuesday when a driver plowed into a bunch of teenagers close to a bus cease in what officers described as an intentional crash.
Mates remembered Wesley Welling as a joyful individual with a brilliant future.
“Through the summers, he would come over right here and go swimming in our pool,” mentioned Eric Paul, a detailed good friend of Wesley’s household who created a GoFundMe to assist with funeral prices. “He was such a brilliant and pleased child.”
Wesley had been excited to begin highschool, becoming a member of his older sister at Westlake, and talked about attending school, Paul mentioned.
“He had his entire life forward of him,” Paul mentioned. “It’s terrible that this man yesterday awoke and selected violence.”
Ventura County sheriff’s deputies arrested Austin Eis, 24, in reference to the deadly crash, additionally linking him to a stabbing at a Walmart in Simi Valley earlier Tuesday. He was booked on seven felony counts, together with homicide and tried homicide, in accordance with the Ventura County Sheriff’s Workplace.
Eis is accused of crashing his Toyota Camry into the group of teenagers simply earlier than 2:40 p.m. on Lakeview Canyon Street in Thousand Oaks. Wesley was taken to a hospital, the place he was pronounced useless. Two women, 14 and 16, had been injured within the crash, in addition to one other 15-year-old boy. All three had been additionally taken to the hospital, however two have since been launched, in accordance with Deputy Wendell Campbell, a Ventura County Sheriff’s spokesperson. He didn’t know the extent of the accidents to the third teen, who remained within the hospital.
The sufferer within the stabbing, a Walmart worker, was taken to the hospital, officers mentioned. The extent of the worker’s accidents was additionally not instantly clear. Authorities didn’t disclose a motive for the stabbing or the automobile assault.
Messages remembering Wesley and providing help to his household poured into the GoFundMe web page Wednesday because it shortly surpassed its preliminary objective of $15,000.
Wesley was the center baby of three, being raised by a single mother, Paul mentioned. They had been a detailed household who usually went tenting or to the seaside.
“They went on so many journeys,” Paul mentioned. “They did every part as an enormous household.”
Wesley’s older sister was on the public bus cease together with her brother when he was fatally struck, however she was not injured, Paul mentioned.
Wesley additionally had a 9-year-old brother, with whom he shared a bed room.
“He beloved being an enormous brother,” Paul mentioned.
Candles and flowers piled up exterior Westlake Excessive College on Wednesday morning, and a vigil has been scheduled for later within the night, in accordance with KABC-TV Channel 7.
Psychological well being counselors will likely be on campuses districtwide Wednesday for college students, workers and households, mentioned Supt. Mark McLaughlin of the Conejo Valley Unified College District.
“Throughout this time of unimaginable loss, our ideas and prayers stay with these college students, their households, mates, and all the Warrior group,” McLaughlin mentioned in a press release to oldsters.
