A Cinco Ranch High School student was killed and another injured when the car they were in crashed on South Mason Road near Cinco Ranch Boulevard. Neither was wearing a seat belt.
Parents, classmates and teammates are all devastated. Chris Saiz, their star basketball player and an outstanding young man is dead and they just don't understand why.
The tears were no more heartbreaking than from his girlfriend, Tyler Reichert, and his childhood friend, Trey Pinkney.
"He always knew what to say to lift my spirits up or when he was in trouble with me," Reichert said.
"He's more than just a friend to me, he was like family. I would do anything for him, I'd take a bullet for him," added Pinkney.
The candlelight vigil held in front of the school gym Wednesday night wasn't the only place where friends mourned.
At the accident site on Mason Road, flowers marked the spot where investigators say around 10:15pm Tuesday, the car Saiz was riding in lost control.
"It's unreal," a friend said.
"It doesn't even feel like it's happening," said another.
Investigators say the driver, 17-year-old Derrick Jones, survived. But Saiz, apparently not wearing a seat belt, died. The death of this popular high school junior and star athlete brought hundreds out to Cinco Ranch High School.
Saiz's brother and parents were embraced by his basketball teammates, while students tried to understand the unexplainable.
"Your heart just drops and you can't believe that it's one of your very own basketball players who you play with, and it's really sad; tears started flowing out of everybody's eyes and it's just a hard thing to take in," classmate Andrew Fung said.
The teenager, who was looked up to by so many, is still teaching others a lesson.
"Just cherish every second you have, because it could be your last," Reichert said.
Saiz's birthday is December 26, one day after Christmas. But two days before Christmas -- on Friday -- his family will be holding a memorial service in his honor.
