Students at Mount Juliet High School returned from fall break mourning the loss of a friend.
MT. JULIET, Tenn. (WKRN) — On Thursday, a community gathered to remember a high schooler tragically killed in a crash.
Kyler Gatica and his family were on their way home from a beach vacation when they were involved in a multi-vehicle pile up. He was a junior at Mount Juliet High School. Students there returned from fall break mourning the loss of a friend.
“He was my best friend,” Jackson Sanders said. “We did everything together.”
Sanders spoke at the candle light prayer vigil.
“It’s hit really hard,” Sanders added. “It’s cool to see how the community has got together.”
The loss has been hard on many of the students, including Dustin Cunningham.
“I don’t really have a lot of true friends and I feel like Kyler was really one of them,” Cunningham told News 2. “He was really nice to me and he would talk to me even when it wasn’t convenient for him.”
“He made sure you were cared for,” friend Isabella Jock said. “He didn’t want you to feel alone. He never let anybody sit alone or be in this self-doubt cloud.”
In a preliminary report, the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) said that several cars were slowing down due to traffic conditions along Interstate 840 East in Rutherford County when a driver rear-ended Gatica’s family.
Gatica’s friends have been left to lean on each other.
“We don’t have to feel like we’re alone because that’s kind of where some people are at,” Jock added. “But there are so many people at this school who love and cared about him, so they want to be there to support you.”
“I’ll remember him forever,” Sanders said. “It’s not going to be the same.”
Over the weekend, Kyler’s friends painted his parking spot. Usually, that’s a right of passage for high school seniors, but they got the okay from the school to decorate it in Gatica’s honor.
While the community has started healing from their loss, several other people are recovering from their injuries — including a nine-year-old girl. The THP added that the crash is still under investigation.