FOUR friends have been killed in a horror car crash on their way home from a concert in California.
Amidst the release of heartbreaking images from the incident’s aftermath, an aunt of one of the victims has shared information about the tragic last phone call made from inside the car.
Two others from another car were injured in the smash and one person has been arrested under suspicion of DUI.
In the early hours of July 20, around 1am, Julie Harmori, along with her boyfriend Armand Del Campo and friends Jordan Partridge and Sam Skocilic, were returning home after attending a concert in Norwalk.
The group of 24 year olds were on the 605 Freeway in Norfolk when their Nissan crashed into a California Highway Patrol Vehicle.
The impact of the collision sent the car into another lane where it was left stranded.
It was then that a Kia sedan smashed into the rear of the Nissan at a high speed, causing it to burst into flames, trapping the friends inside.
Harmori, Del Campo, Partridge, and Skocilic were all pronounced dead at the scene.
Devastating footage from the crash showed the vehicle engulfed in flames in the middle of the highway.
Aftermath images later showed the mangled metal shell of the burnt vehicle.
Kathy Stickel, Harmori’s aunt, has started a fundraiser for the families of all the friends and told KTLA that Partridge had reached out to her mother following the initial collision with the patrol vehicle.
The pair were talking on the phone while the car was stranded in its lane moments before the Kia slammed into the back.
Partridge had been saying how they had been in a crash but were okay until “in the middle of a sentence, the line went dead,” Stickel tragically revealed.
Iris Salmeron, 26, from Bellflower, and her passenger were hospitalized with severe injuries.
Salmeron has since been arrested and faces numerous felony charges including DUI.
The GoFundMe page set up by Stickel and Jordan’s aunt Ashley Boyd for funeral expenses has raised over $16,000 at the time of writing.
“Proceeds will be divided evenly among the four families’ parents, as they scramble to memorialize their children after this devastating quadruple-homicide,” it states.
CHP Officer Zachary Salazar said the tragedy was “entirely preventable due to the fact that one of the drivers was driving under the influence”.
“Our hearts go out to the families who are involved in terms of the victims…our officers are going to investigate this to the best of their ability.”
An investigation into what caused the initial crash with the CHP car is ongoing.
Stickel said the families of the victims have pulled together and “all the parents are checking on each other”.
The four friends had known each other since junior high school.
According to the fundraiser, a memorial service will be held for them on July 31.
