SAN ANTONIO – Orange lines mark the pavement and grass in front of the Pan American library, memorializing the final moments before two lives were lost and a third was changed forever.
Police said Sergio Barrera Jr., 24, came fast off I-35 North late Sunday night. When he tried to avoid another car on the access road, he lost control and hit a tree. His girlfriend, Gabrielle Gonzalez, 21, and friend, Edward Torres, 22, were pronounced dead at the crash scene.
"He loved Gabby. He loved Edward. Like, he was such a good guy. None of them deserve this," Barrera's cousin, Monica Guadarrama, said through tears. "Like, they just like to go out."
Now Guadarrama waits for her cousin to get better and mourns Gonzalez and Torres, whom she also knew.
"He's going to have to live with that every day," she said. "And it's going to drive him crazy. Like, he has to go through that. And he's going to have to go through that every day."
Barrera will also face charges in their deaths. San Antonio Police Department spokesman Officer Doug Green said Barrera, who is still in critical condition, was booked by proxy on two counts of intoxication manslaughter from the crash.
Green said the toxicology report for Barrera was still pending, but officers believed they smelled intoxicants on his breath. Green said narcotics were also found in the car.
Guadarrama thought highly of her cousin's girlfriend.
"She was so beautiful, and she was such a good person, too," she said of Gonzalez.
Torres was Guadarrama's roommate and friend. He was trying to escape violence in Puerto Rico, she said. He was working and sending money home to his daughters.
She described him as a fun guy who liked to party, but if he had a few bucks, he'd give it to you.
"He knew how hard it was to do stuff, and so he'd like help you. He'd help you no matter what," Guadarrama said.