Two New Jersey women were killed in a horrific hit-and-run crash while walking home from a World Cup watch party, authorities said.
Mariana Elizabeth Valverde Beltran, 58, and Maria Isabel DeLosAngeles Salgado Ayala, 61, were crossing the intersection of Park Avenue and North 7th Street in Newark when a driver slammed into them, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office.
The deadly crash happened Saturday, June 20.
Surveillance video obtained by WABC reportedly showed the suspect’s red car racing through the intersection before striking both women and sending them flying.
The driver was later identified by authorities as 26-year-old David J. Zapata-Vera of Newark.
One witness told the outlet that Zapata-Vera appeared to step on the accelerator and speed through the crosswalk as the traffic light was changing.
“I don’t know if he was drunk, but anyway, he put the gas and that’s what happens,” witness Manuel Candelaria told WABC.
Beltran and Ayala were rushed to University Hospital in Newark, where they were pronounced dead.
Their deaths have devastated relatives, who said the women were simply walking home when their lives were taken in an instant.
“You have to live with this for the rest of your life,” Beltran’s cousin, Jeffrey Chacon, told WABC. “I hope the person is found but also for that person it’s something you have to live with for the rest of your life, it’s on your conscience.”
Chacon said his family was left trying to notify loved ones overseas after the tragedy.
“My dad is managing his emotions with trying to contact everyone in Ecuador, her sisters, her son,” he said.
Zapata-Vera surrendered to police on Tuesday, three days after the fatal crash, authorities said.
He was charged with two counts of second-degree vehicular homicide, two counts of second-degree leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident resulting in death, and two counts of third-degree endangering an injured victim.
Zapata-Vera is being held in Essex County jail without bond, according to jail records.
So someone named David Je’sus Zapata-Vera, 26, of Newark, NJ was speeding and driving recklessly and ran into 2 people Mariana Elizabeth Valverde Beltran, 58, and Maria Isabel DeLosAngeles Salgado Ayala, and killed them.
Just based on the names, I would know this happened in today’s Amerika 2026.
Another spik, probably an illegal
Democrat….just like his victims.