Photo: GoFundMe
A 36-year-old father and two of his children were killed in a tragic car crash in Kentucky over Memorial Day weekend, the Kentucky State Police confirms to PEOPLE.
Agustin Gonzalez, a major in the U.S. Army, was driving through Kentucky on Saturday night with his three children, Noelle Gonzalez, 6, Gwendolyn Gonzalez, 2, and Nicholas Gonzalez, 8, when his 2013 Dodge Caravan struck a tow truck that had stopped in the lanes to help a driver who had been involved in a previous crash, according to CBS affiliateWKYT.
Gonzalez was pronounced dead at the scene, while Noelle and Gwendolyn were taken to two separate hospitals, where they later died. Nicholas, who experienced minor injuries and survived, was hospitalized, the outlet reported.
At the time of the crash, Gonzalez had just celebrated his graduation and was headed to Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado, before he was to report back to his station on Tuesday. His wife, Melissa Gonzalez, and their newborn son, Gabriel, were on a flight en route to meet them, an update from aGoFundMepage set up for the family says. When she arrived at their Colorado home, military officials and family friends were there to meet her and tell her the tragic news.
According to the donation page, Gonzalez has lived in Cary, North Carolina, as he studied to earn his master’s degree in public policy at Duke University. Melissa worked as a second-grade teacher at Horton’s Creek Elementary until the couple welcomed Gabriel, their fourth child, in March.
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“He was like full, bright, all the time, so I used to tell my kids you should learn from Augie,” Manaz Kuriyodath, a neighbor of the family, told the news station of Gonzalez.
“Augie and I became friends at the age of 10 through baseball and through our older brothers, Joe and Johnny. I am so grateful for the memories we shared, my dear friend,” wrote one donor. “Melissa, I will pray for you and your family for the rest of my life.”
“Prayers for the family as this is just an unimaginable situation,” wrote another.
source: people.com
