PHOENIX — While the scene at Loop 202 South Mountain and 40th Street on Saturday night showed bashed-up cars and several first responders, it didn’t show who was taken.
“That family was loved by many,” Luz Salcido said.
Salcido's brother, Juan Carlos Gaspar, his wife Selma, and their 12-year-old son Carlos were killed that evening.
“I know that they left together,” Salcido said while holding back tears.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety said 23-year-old Aryian Guy was driving fast and recklessly on the 202 when he hit the Gaspar family's SUV.
Juan Carlos, Selma, Carlos and another extended family member were all ejected from the vehicle and weren’t wearing seatbelts, according to family.
The family tells 12 News that three other extended family members were in the vehicle with the Gaspar family when the accident happened. All three of them are in serious condition at the hospital, according to a spokesperson for DPS.
A spokesperson for DPS said a teenage girl was also in Guy’s car and is also in serious condition at the hospital.
“It’s hard,” Salcido said. “All because somebody wanted to drink.”
Court paperwork shows Guy had open containers of beer and whiskey in his car and said he admitted to drinking while driving.
“Mr. Guy’s blood alcohol concentration at the time he was admitted to the hospital was .22,” an attorney for the state said in Guy’s initial appearance in Maricopa County.
Guy is now facing three counts of manslaughter and four counts of aggravated assault.
"He has torn two families apart," Salcido said.
“They left us suffering so much,” Eva Carrillo, Juan Carlos’ mother said.
A GoFundMe page was set up for donations for the family, here.
RELATED: Man was drinking alcohol while driving in crash that killed mother, father, son, police say
A loving family taken too soon
Carrillo describes her son as a loving person who loved his family and his job. Neighbors tell 12 News they’d often see Juan Carlos outside with Carlos.
Juan Carlos worked at a roofing company as a supervisor for many years. Salcido said he started at the company when he was 18-years-old.
“He was a very hardworking man,” Carrillo said.
Carrillo said Juan Carlos married Selma more than 20 years ago. The family says the pair met at a get-together, dated for a couple of years, and have been married ever since.
Both Selma and Juan Carlos were 45 years old.
“She was a pillar of that family,” Salcido said.
Salcido said Selma was intelligent and worked as a property manager at a real estate company to help provide for her family.
“She did everything for them,” Salcido said.
The pair raised Carlos together, and the family says was the light of everyone’s lives.
The family said Carlos had dwarfism, and a spokesperson for Laveen Elementary School District said he was awarded the ‘I Can Do it” award by the Arizona Council for Exceptional Children in 2016.
The award is given to special needs students who excel in their academics despite their disabilities.
“He said he was going to learn about his dad’s job because he was going to take over,” Carrillo said.
Carlos was a 6th-grade student at Paseo Pointe School in Laveen and previously attended Desert Meadows School. A letter sent home to parents at Paseo Pointe said that counselors were brought to the classrooms to share the news that Carlos and his family had died in the crash and will continue to be available to students throughout the week.
“This is a very difficult time for all of us at Paseo. Please keep Carlos’s family and friends, as well as the Paseo Pointe and Desert Meadows communities, in your thoughts,” principal Jonathan Rohloff said in the letter.
Juan Carlos’ family said that just as they’re left grieving. So was Selma’s family as well.
Both Salcido and Carrillo pleaded that people don’t drive while drinking, saying the loss they are going through now is an example of the toll it can take.
“I hope [Guy] thinks about what he did every single day,” Salcido said.
Up to Speed
Catch up on the latest news and stories on the 12 News YouTube channel. Subscribe today.