Mourners gather for vigil for 17-year-old girl hit, killed by Metra train in northwest suburbs
BARRINGTON, Ill. (CBS) -- A candlelight vigil was held in the northwest suburbs Friday night to honor the teenage girl who was hit and killed by a Metra train in Barrington this week.
Hundreds of people gathered at the Barrington Campus Life Center to remember 17-year-old Marin Lacson.
"She really was a light - full of energy, and just someone that was always awesome to be around," said Barrington parent Jerry Ewalt.
Ewalt invited Marin's friends, many of them fellow students at Barrington High School, to come up and speak. Many teens wept as they spoke – including Marin's best friend, Katy Morris, who was planning a summer vacation with Marin in Italy.
"In English class we were told to, like, I forget the prompt – we were supposed to write about something that was like with a loved one that made us happy, and she wrote about something with me," said Katy, "and it was when we went riding our bikes around her neighborhood, and we rode around for a long time, and we ate like the berries off of all the trees in her neighborhood. And then we went to this bridge – I don't know if any of you live in Tower Lakes – this bridge over the lake, and we sat there and laid there and watched the sunset."
Katy said she had found pictures of that occasion on Friday – the day after Marin's passing.
"I was just reminded of how great a person she was and how great a friend she was, and how we could always find a way to laugh together – and I wish we had more time," she said.
Jerry Ewalt's daughter, Ellie Ewalt, said she had known Marin since first grade. She talked about a memory of going to Colorado for a week with Marin's family.
"My favorite memory was hiking the Black Canyon with her, because I remember going there and I remember being so scared because I'd never done something like that before – and Marin was always there for me. She was encouraging me, and she was always five steps ahead of me in hiking," Ellie said. "She was such an outdoorsy person, and she was just so much fun to be around, and I was so grateful for her to be there because I know if she wasn't there, I wouldn't have gone up on that hike."
Marin was struck by a Union Pacific-Northwest Metra train around 7:45 a.m. Thursday, as she walked to Barrington High School. She was hit by the second of two passing trains in the area.
Witnesses said the gates were down at the time of the accident, but the crossing does not have gates over the sidewalk.
Marin was a part of the Chinese Immersion Program and a member of the lacrosse team at Barrington High.