In a tragic accident allegedly caused by a suspected drunk driver, a California family waved goodbye to a 73-year-old grandfather, Albino Barrera, and his 2-year-old granddaughter, Sofia Barrera.
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According to KABC, Sofia's mother was driving their Anaheim home in the family SUV at around 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 19. Her son, Ishmael Barrera Romero, was in the front passenger seat. Both Albino and Sofia Barrera were in the back seat alongside Sofia's grandmother.
While their SUV merged onto the 5 Freeway, another driver allegedly lost control of their SUV, violently crashed into the family's SUV. The sheer violence of the crash caused Albino to be ejected from the vehicle, dying instantly. Sofia suffered fatal injuries, later succumbed to them.
Ishmael, only suffering minor injuries, got out of the wrecked family SUV. Horrified, he saw his grandfather lying dead on the ground.
"As soon as I got out of my seat, I saw my grandpa Albino on the floor," Ishmael told the outlet in tears. "I was just in shock, I didn't know what to do. I was crying, I was calling for help, I saw witnesses there that were already calling the cops."
Meanwhile, the suspected drunk driver was rushed to a local hospital. While the identity of the driver has not been released, the outlet refers to them as a female.
Last Memory Together
Hours before the fatal accident, the family had attended a fellow church member's birthday party. At the party, Albino and Sofia Barrera posed for pictures in a photo booth, in what is now a haunting and heartbreaking memory before their passing.
"My dad's not the kind of person to take pictures. He doesn't like to take so many pictures," Herby Barrera, Albino's son, told the outlet. "It was something that's going to live in our hearts forever because he decided to come to my niece and say, 'Hey, let's go take a picture.' They were the last ones to take a picture in that photo booth. We left, and it's the last picture we have of them together."
The following day, the family celebrated Easter. This time, grief was present in their hearts. However, being together as a family allows them to face this loss together.
"It's very difficult to process but we're just coming together as a family, trying to just support one another," Herby added. "This could be prevented if people are responsible with their driving. Two loved ones were taken away from us because someone was careless."
A GoFundMe was set up to help support the Barrera family in this extremely difficult time.
"One was the patriarch of our family, who brought us all together," the GoFundMe reads. "The other was just beginning to embrace life as a Barrera."
