Driver hits Westlake High School students in Thousand Oaks, killing one
A driver hit four Westlake High School students near the Thousand Oaks campus Tuesday afternoon, fatally injuring one.
The Ventura County Medical Examiner's Office identified the victim as Wesley Welling, 15, of Thousand Oaks.
Ventura County Sheriff's officials described the incident as an intentional act and said the driver had been arrested on suspicion of homicide.
The driver, identified as 24-year-old Austin Allen Eis, who was described a transient resident of Ventura County, is suspected of being involved in two other incidents Tuesday, including a stabbing at a local Walmart, authorities said.
The crash was reported shortly before 3:40 p.m. near Lakeview Canyon Road and East Thousand Oaks Boulevard at a bus stop near the high school campus.
Three other students were injured: two girls, age 14 and 16, and a boy, 15.
One was reported to be in critical condition Tuesday night. Two suffered minor injuries and were treated and released at local hospitals, sheriff's officials said.
On Wednesday, no detailed update was available on the hospitalized student, though a spokeswoman at Ventura County Medical Center said one patient from the crash was stable.
After being cleared at a hospital, Eis was booked into Ventura County jail early Wednesday morning. The 24-year-old was arrested on suspicion of multiple felonies including murder, attempted murder, burglary, kidnapping, drawing a gun in a threatening manner, use of tear gas and attempted robbery, according to online booking information.
He was being held in in lieu of $5.54 million bail. As of Wednesday night, the District Attorney's Office had not yet filed formal charges, court records showed. A court hearing had been scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
Community members were planning events to help the victims and their families and loved ones. Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village will host a prayer vigil Wednesday at 6 p.m.
"We invite everyone in the greater Conejo Valley to come together to join us in prayer," leaders of the church on Via Rocas said in a message to members.
“It feels very close and very personal,” said Senior Pastor Shawn Thornton of the tragedy. “People are saying that easily could have been my child there.”
A GoFundMe campaign to raise funeral expenses for Welling had reached nearly $188,000 by 8 p.m. Wednesday.
Lead-up to crash
Authorities believe Eis is linked to a stabbing and assault earlier in the day at a Walmart in Simi Valley and to a subsequent domestic dispute in Camarillo.
The series of crimes started around 2:40 p.m. when Eis allegedly stabbed a store employee and assaulted a second worker at the Walmart at 255 W. Cochran St., according to the Simi Valley Police Department. The employee, who suffered multiple stab wounds, was being treated at a trauma center. He remained hospitalized in stable condition Wednesday night, the department reported.
Eis reportedly fled the Walmart in a white Toyota Camry with a missing bumper. Witnesses provided police with the license plate number. The Simi department sought help from the sheriff's office and the California Highway Patrol as they searched for the car.
On Wednesday afternoon, Simi police Cmdr. Ritchie Lew provided more detail about what transpired at the Walmart a day earlier.
The suspect reportedly pepper sprayed a male employee before stabbing him multiple times with a large knife.
“He then turned his attention to a female employee," Lew said.
The suspect physically assaulted her and tried to drag her away, he said. Other employees attempted to intervene and the suspect allegedly lunged at them with the knife. He then ran outside and drove away.
A motive was unclear, said Lew, who called the attack unprovoked.
Suspected booking offenses involving kidnapping and use of pepper spray, among others, pertain to the Walmart incident.
Disturbances continue
After leaving the Walmart, Eis reportedly fled to Camarillo, where he is suspected of being involved in a domestic dispute with family members, later described as his parents, officials said. No injuries were reported.
The sheriff’s office received a report of a disturbance at the house around 3:20 p.m. Eis reportedly threatened multiple people with a knife and brandished a handgun at the home on Shadetree Way. He had entered without the family member's permission, according to the sheriff's office, which is contracted to provide police services in Camarillo and Thousand Oaks. He fled before victims called 911 and before deputies arrived.
Eis subsequently went to Thousand Oaks, where the students were struck in the 4000 block of Thousand Oaks Boulevard, police said. At the crash site, the overturned Camry had come to rest on its roof.
Agencies had been looking for the vehicle, but there was no pursuit at any time during the incidents, authorities said.
Caleb Hearne, 14, was waiting for the bus before the crash. The high school freshman said the driver made a quick swerve on the road and was headed straight toward students before the car flipped.
Heavy hearts
Mark McLaughlin, superintendent of the Conejo Valley Unified School District, sent a message about the traffic collision late Tuesday afternoon, which he said happened when a vehicle drove off the road and "struck a group of Westlake High School students who were walking on the sidewalk."
"It is with a heavy heart that I write this message," McLaughlin wrote, saying thoughts and prayers were with the students, their families and the Warrior community. In an update after the fatality was confirmed, McLaughlin said a team of counselors would be at Westlake High and other district campuses Wednesday.
Thousand Oaks Boulevard was closed from Via Merida to Westlake Boulevard as sheriff’s investigators worked the scene.
Sheriff's officials said Wednesday Eis was a former student at Westlake High.
Around 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, the scene had been eerily quiet along Thousand Oaks Boulevard as investigators worked inside an area cordoned off by police tape. The Camry remained upside down next to a bus stop, resting against the curb. Media crews were staged in the parking lot of a nearby business center.
Shortly before 9 p.m., mourners started gathering in front of the Westlake High School sign, which stands diagonally across the intersection from the accident site.
Some lit candles and brought flowers. After a few students and parents initially arrived, hundreds more streamed down Lakeview Canyon Road to join the vigil. The large gathering stood in silence for a time, observing the line of glowing candles and flower bouquets.
On Tuesday night, Christian Morales, a 14-year-old Westlake High freshman, said he was picked up from the intersection by a parent shortly after the collision. He and his father, Eddie Morales, were among the first to set out flowers by the school sign.
"I was unsure of what happened," Christian Morales said. "I thought it was just an accident."
He didn’t realize until after he left campus that his friend had been fatally injured.
“He was a very kind, smart person,” Morales said of Welling. “He was always looking out for others, putting people before him.
“He never caused any harm to anyone. He was always just calm, playful.”
Family speaks
On Wednesday, as stacks of flowers grew larger in front of the Westlake High sign, Wesley's mother, Kelly Welling, and siblings Hannah and Cody spoke with reporters.
Kelly Welling said it was her birthday Tuesday. Wesley had been at the bus stop with his sister Hannah when he was struck, she said.
“By some miracle, my daughter wasn’t standing right next to him because it could have been both of them," Kelly Welling said. "She’s OK, but she witnessed it.”
“Everybody loved him,” the mother said. “I’m finding out how many more people loved him than I already knew about from this whole thing.”
Paying respects
On Wednesday, the bus stop stood empty, blocked off by police tape and oranges cone. Its metal post was caved in half where the car had struck. A sign on the post said the stop was closed and riders should go to a temporary stop across the street.
School staff sat in a golf cart near the crash site at the intersection, keeping an eye out as students crossed. One said it was a special precaution, “just for now.”
The growing memorial outside the school campus, meanwhile, drew friends, family and strangers.
Haidyn Thrasher, 15, a sophomore at Agoura High, said a friend’s friend was one of the injured students. She pulled up a social media post on her phone showing a boy with scattered bandages leaning back in a recliner and flashing a peace sign, with the caption: "He good."
“It just made me really sad,” Thrasher said after laying a bouquet at the memorial.
Peter George, 43, of Thousand Oaks, also brought flowers. He said he had no direct connection to the school but thought of his 10- and 13-year-old children when he read the news.
“My kid walks to school. I think about them,” he said. Bringing flowers felt like the right thing to do, he added. "It doesn’t end here. There’s a ripple effect. Everyone has to live with it.”
Kaden Youmans, a 17-year-old Westlake junior, stopped by on his own with flowers.
“It’s very close to home, that’s what affected me so much," Youmans said in a text. "He was just going to the bus stop. I can’t do much except pray and bring flowers.”
Youmans drives to school these days, but said: “I walked that street countless times as an underclassman.”
Youmans was playing in a baseball game at another school Tuesday night when he heard about the crash from his coach after the game ended. He then headed to the impromptu vigil at Westlake High.
“It was a beautiful thing, seeing our community come together," he said.
This story may be updated.
Joe Curley covers sports for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcspreps on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.
Cheri Carlson covers the environment and county government for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at cheri.carlson@vcstar.com or 805-437-0260.
Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tom.kisken@vcstar.com or 805-437-0255.
-- Staff writers Isaiah Murtaugh and Gretchen Wenner contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Car hits several high school students in Thousand Oaks, California
