BEXAR COUNTY, Texas – A Somerset High School student injured in a wrong-way crash Tuesday night has been identified as 17-year-old Andrea Gamez.
Gamez was driving a Nissan Maxima on northbound I-35 near Kinney Road when she was hit by a wrong-way driver around 10:30 p.m.
The car that hit Gamez, a Hyundai Sonata, was being driven by an unidentified 57-year-old woman. She died at the scene.
She had just left work at Whataburger Tuesday night before she was hit on the interstate, according to the Bexar County Sheriff's Office.
Gamez was taken by medical helicopter to University Hospital in critical condition. Somerset ISD spokesperson Maury Vasquez said Wednesday afternoon that she has had one surgery so far and is expected to have at least two more.
"The student has a long road ahead of recovery, a long list of injuries, but at least the long-term prognosis is positive right now," Maury said.
Gamez, a junior at Somerset, is described by friends as a hard worker, who always has a smile on her face.
"It's crazy. Like, I saw her ... a week ago, and knowing that I gave her a hug and now that's shes an ICU, it makes your heart drop," classmate Noah Flores said.
Gamez was taking cosmetology classes and hoping to get her license soon.
"Andrea was a good girl. She didn't drink, she doesn't cuss, she's so focused on getting her license and start working an building a life," cosmetology instructor Holly Yates said.
Flores said tragedy has struck the district before. He said the crash serves as a reminder of just how delicate life can be.
"It's been a rough couple of years, but we've never had someone in our class that (this has) happened to, but it's like an eye-opener on how things can change," Flores said.
"Someone in the district was commenting that we feel like we have a dark cloud hanging over Somerset ISD in recent months. We lost a student here at the high school and at our intermediate campus right before the Christmas break," Maury said.
Sheriff's officials believe the driver of the Sonata was intoxicated at the time of the crash.