Aurora Lizeth Canales was killed in a hit-and-run crash Monday as she was driving home from the grocery store. Five of her children were on board and three sustained several injuries. Her two oldest children spoke with NBC 5’s Allie Spillyard
A deadly hit-and-run crash in Carrollton left eight children without a mother. Police are still looking for the driver from that crash.
Aurora Canales’s children are watching that search closely as they figure out how to move forward without her.
“She was a very loving person. It's hard to talk about her,” said daughter Diana Perez.
On Monday evening, Perez was with her mother, along with four of her siblings, as they drove through Carrollton, headed home from the grocery store.
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According to police, they were near the intersection of Marsh Lane and Dove Creek when a driver in a red Camaro lost control and hit the family head-on. A third vehicle hit both.
“It was just like a regular day and then out of nowhere, I blacked out,” said Perez.
After, Perez said her mother’s side of their family’s van appeared to be gone and Canales wasn’t responding. From the backseat, she heard her sister screaming.
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“All I could do is just you could do is just scream, because I didn’t want to believe that she was actually gone. And I didn't want to believe that this was real life. I wanted to believe that this was just a bad dream. And I just wanted to wake up from it, but it's not,” said Perez.
Three of the children were transported to a local hospital. Police said Canales died at the scene.
Now, at just 21 and 22, Perez and her big brother, Jesus Perez-Canales, are left to figure out what comes next.
“I wasn't ready for this kind of responsibility, but I'm going to do everything I can to take care of them like how my mom would,” said Perez-Canales.
Tuesday, Carrollton police said they’d identified the driver who hit the family before fleeing the scene and issued a warrant for his arrest.
“He needs to own up to what he did,” said Perez-Canales.
The siblings said that driver took everything from them by claiming the life of a mother who showed her children how to love, laugh and be strong.
“She always loved us, and that's something I want to carry on,” said Perez.
As of Wednesday night, one of the Canales siblings, 8-year-old Nicole, remained hospitalized.
