Sister of crash victim at Sherman and Nash speaks out: 'She was just celebrating her birthday'
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CBS 58 spoke exclusively with Antoinette Wallace, whose sister Victoria Smith died Sunday, June 21.
"She lost her son three years ago and all she ever wanted after that was to be happy. I guess she got her happiness now," Wallace said.
Smith was one of five people who was shot at a house party near 28th and Ruby.
"She wasn't a bad type of person so I know whoever came in there shooting wasn't for her. She was just celebrating her birthday, and just being with the wrong person at the wrong time led up to her being killed," Wallace said.
Leerance Riley was driving Smith to the hospital when they crashed into a tree near Sherman and Nash. They were pronounced dead at the scene.
Riley's cousins gathered Sunday, June 28, around the tree where he crashed a week before. They want him to be remembered as a father and a hero.
"We're just out here paying our respects to (Riley). That was a life gone too soon," said Riley's cousin, Prynce Brew. "He was a character. He was somebody that liked to have fun, but when it came time to do something right, he was going to do it, and that's what he should be remembered for."
Riley and Smith's families both expressed condolences to each other.
"I don't know too much about (Riley). I know he tried to save my sister though," Wallace said.
"Obviously (Riley) probably was headed to St. Joe's, so we wish they could have made it," Brew said.
The same tree that changed these two families lives forever is now bringing them together.
"When we (went) to the tree... we talked to (Riley's) family. They said that that's something that he always does: looking out for people trying to help people. So, I truly thank him," Wallace said.