The family of a Pomona woman who was killed in a hit and run on July 5, held a vigil in her memory on Friday.
57-year-old Carol Fuentes was driving home from spending a day off at a casino when she was one of two cars struck by a Ford Expedition at the corner of Garey and Orange Grove Avenue, just after 9 p.m.
As a result of the crash, four people were rushed to the hospital. Fuentes, who suffered a spinal and brain injury, succumbed to her injuries ten days later.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
“She went to Morongo Casino and was excited because she won money and was coming home,” said Bridget Diaz, Fuentes’ daughter. “I spoke to her 30 min before and said I’ll see you tomorrow because we planned a gathering for my brother’s birthday.”
Fuentes was the mother of six children and grandmother to 14. Her family says she was well-embedded in her community.
“The nights are the worst for me because you wake up in the bed and she’s not there. Those are the hard times,” her husband Frederico Fuentes, said.
Police say that the man who was driving the Ford Expedition fled the scene on foot and was last spotted near the 10 Freeway. No arrests have been made yet.
Fuentes’s’ family hopes that an arrest can be made soon.
“That always helps, but she’s gone,” Fuentes’ husband said. “There is nothing changing that. No matter what he goes through, there is no changing that. He took a big part of our lives.”
