Brothers killed in crash mourned
Holidaying parents fly home after boys die in tragic accident
Bouquets of flowers on a rural Richmond road served as a makeshift memorial Sunday for two young brothers killed in a weekend crash.
Jess and Shane Moses, 16 and 19, were passengers in a BMW driven by a friend that smashed into a tree and catapulted down a rural stretch of No. 4 Road around 3 a.m. Saturday.
The boys, both sitting on the right side of the vehicle, died instantly, police said. Alcohol and speed are possible factors in the crash.
On Sunday afternoon, several of Jess and Shane’s friends sat vigil beneath a shady chestnut tree at the roadside memorial, where a dented side panel from the BMW still lay on the ground. Nearby was a photo of the two boys taken on a recent vacation, both of them sporting huge smiles and wearing matching blue and white Hawaiian T-shirts.
“Shane was the biggest joker,” said friend Samantha Holmes-mcluskie, 17, one of four friends who went to the crash site to pay their respects.
Shane and Jess were popular kids, she said, goofballs who regularly welcomed friends at their family home and whose friends treated them like family. They loved movies and cars. “I think we watched every single movie on Netflix,” said Samantha of Shane.
“They were the Moses brothers. Everyone knew who they were.”
The teens said they’re shocked to lose their friends so suddenly.
“We saw it on Facebook, but didn’t believe it, so we called them and both of their phones were off,” Cailin Ternes, 17, said. “They were like family.”
Lisa Gamblen, 17, said there’s a lesson she hopes her friends take from this tragedy.
“Never drink and drive. Never get in a car with anybody who has been drinking.”
The driver, a 20-year-old from Richmond, was treated in hospital and released. Police haven’t said if charges would be laid. The investigation will take months, they said.
The boys live with their mother and stepfather, who were on a cruise when their sons died, Samantha said. The parents docked in San Francisco Sunday morning and were to fly back into Vancouver later in the day, she said.
Shane and Jess leave behind two stepbrothers, Samantha said.