A mother and her two children – a 4-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl – were killed by a semi-truck as they were walking to a bus stop on the Chicago's South Side Friday.
Fire officials said the semi struck the three pedestrians just after 5 p.m. at 43rd and Ashland Avenue.
An employee at the Cricket phone store across the street from the incident said the mother and her two children came into the store prior to the accident to inquire about buying a phone for the daughter. The mother told the employee she had been going through a rough time lately because her car had been stolen.
The mother and her children were walking to the bus stop at 43rd Street and Ashland after leaving the phone store when they were struck by the semi.
The children were rushed to Mt. Sinai Hospital and the mother to John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital, but all three victims succumbed to their injuries.
Police confirmed the mother was the first to be pronounced dead at 5:27 p.m., and the two children followed shortly.
The Cook County medical examiner's office identified the mother as 30-year-old Elizabeth Peralta-Luna and the children as 4-year-old Dylan Peralta and 9-year-old Elizabeth Peralta. They lived in the 5400 block of Sawyer Avenue in the Gage Park neighborhood.
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Zachary Barngrover, a 23-year-old Iowa man who was driving the semi, was cited with failing to yield to a pedestrian at a crosswalk and making an improper left turn on a two-way road.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help cover the costs of the funerals for the mother and her children. You can donate here.
