The Santa Clarita community has begun to reach out by sharing words, time and resources with the families of two Santa Clarita teens who died in a car crash Wednesday.
Both Sebastien “Bash” Gallegos, 18, of Castaic, and Eugene Oh, 18, of Valencia, were killed in Granada Hills Wednesday afternoon after their car collided with a garbage collection vehicle on the 14100 block of North San Fernando Road.
On Friday, Tanya Jordanromo, the cousin of Gallegos, said that people have been at the Gallegos house all day comforting his family.
“He was the most compassionate, caring, loving, 18-year-old you would ever imagine,” said Jordanramo. “He was a brother that loved his sisters, more than anybody we’ve seen love any sibling. At any given moment he made someone laugh with his sense of humor … he lit up a room no matter what.”
Oh’s friend, Clyde Seo, said Oh was like a brother to him.
“I’m best friends with Eugene’s brother, Will,” said Seo. I was with Will every day, so I was pretty much with Eugene every day, too. I kind of saw him as an older brother because if I ever needed anything like a ride, I knew I could call him and he’d come pick me up.”
Last year, Eugene’s mother was diagnosed with cancer and they spent a lot of their money on treatment, according to Seo, so Seo wanted to create the GoFundMe to help the family with Eugene’s expenses.
The West Ranch High School Hockey Team, for which Gallegos was a player during the 2018-19 season, released a statement saying Gallegos was someone who had a universal positive impact on the team, and was “one in a million.”
“We have had the privilege of knowing Bash for many years, going back to his in-house youth hockey days at Ice Station Valencia when he played with and against future West Ranch Hockey players,” read the statement from the team. “Bash was taken away from all of us too soon and our hearts go out to Bash’s family, we wish we could take their pain away.”
As of Friday, the Los Angeles Police Department Valley Traffic Division is continuing their investigation into the crash, according to Officer Rosario Cervantes with the LAPD. “They’re trying to figure out what details led to the crash,” she said.
The families of the two Santa Clarita Valley teenagers who died in the crash Wednesday are being supported by GoFundMe accounts set up in their children’s honor.
Gallegos’ family has two GoFundMe pages set up at https://www.gofundme.com/f/kr5v9-the-gallegos-family. The page setup for Eugene Oh can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/f/eugene-oh.
