While two young brothers, ages 5 and 7, remain in Texas Children's Hospital, we've learned the family's home was burglarized. It happened not too long after the crash that killed their mother. Their older brother is out of the hospital and being supported by good friends.
"It's painful. I can't imagine how hard it is to get over it," Daniel Rangel said.
Rangel and his friends are on a mission that's been brought on by tragedy.
"I imagine if I was in his shoes," said the victim's friend Viridiana Moreno.
"I can't imagine being without my mom," said, Jessica Jaimes, another friend.
They all go to school with 15-year-old Samuel Alvarado, a freshman and soccer player at Davis High School. Last Thursday, he was seriously injured in a crash, which Humble police say was caused by fleeing shoplifters. The teen's two little brothers were also injured. His mother, who was driving their red Avenger, was killed.
"He will need the support," Rangel said.
So they have been collecting money during school.
"That's what teammates do, teammates and friends do," Rangel said.
The crash is terrible enough, but sometime during the two days after it happened, the family's northeast side home was broken into, according to Houston police. As the brothers were lying in the hospital, they were victimized again.
"When it rains, I guess it really pours," Rangel said.
And that's why they plan to dedicate upcoming weekends to car washes and other fundraisers -- anything they can do to help their friend now facing life without his mother.
"Our mother is everything for us," Rangel said.
The first fundraiser for the family has been scheduled for June 1 at the Burger King on Cavalcade and Irvington. It's a car wash and it will be happening from 11am to 3pm.
We're told Samuel is still recovering from a number of injuries, including one to his neck and three broken ribs.
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