Vigil Held For 2 Teen Girls Killed In Antioch Crash
ANTIOCH (KPIX 5) -- Hundreds of people braved wet weather Tuesday night and gathered near the scene of a deadly crash to remember two teenage girls who lost their lives.
Leana Rubin, 17, and Jaia Lightner, 13, died in a car accident near the intersection of Lone Tree Way and Indian Hill Drive in Antioch on Friday.
Mourners lit candles and prayed at a vigil across the street from the crash scene.
"This is a parent's worst nightmare and a grandparent's worst nightmare," said Annette Castro, who is Leana's grandmother. Castro said her granddaughter had only had her driver's license for a couple of months when the crash happened.
"She got it around Thanksgiving," she said.
Rubin was behind the wheel, leaving a high school basketball game with five other young people in the car with her, including Castro's other granddaughter, Kiara, and Jaia. Kiara and three other people in the car were hospitalized with injuries.
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Jay Lightner, a friend of Jaia's father, said he did not attend the vigil because it was too painful for him. Other friends said Jay and Jaia had a special relationship.
"She was a daddy's girl," said Janice James, a family friend.
Castro said she hopes the girls' deaths were not in vain. "This unnecessary accident has to be a witness to other teenage drivers," she said.
"You have to obey the law," added James.
Police said speed and wet road conditions were both factors in the crash.
