Westlake High student mourned after car plows into teens in allegedly intentional crash
A 15-year-old freshman at Westlake High School in Thousand Oaks was killed Tuesday when a driver plowed into a group of teenagers near a bus stop in what officials described as an intentional crash.
Family and friends remembered Wesley Welling as a beloved teen with a bright future.
“More people loved him than I ever knew about,” Kelly Welling, Wesley’s mother, said Wednesday afternoon.
She and Wesley’s two siblings, Hannah and Cody, visited a growing memorial in front of Westlake High. Welling had tears in her eyes as she laid a photograph of Wesley onto a bed of flowers.
Hannah was with Wesley and the other students at the time of the crash just before 2:40 p.m. Tuesday on Lakeview Canyon Road, but she was not hit.
“By some miracle my daughter was standing right next to him, and it could have been both of them,” Welling said.
Austin Eis, 24, was arrested a day after teenagers were struck by a vehicle near Westlake High School. Authorities concluded the crash was intentional.
Hannah said she and her brother were waiting for the bus together, but she was farther from the seating area.
“I heard the skid and then everything happened so fast,” Hannah said. “I don’t know what happened, where he was or how he got hit at all.”
Wesley was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Three other teens were injured in the crash, said Deputy Wendell Campbell, a Ventura County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson.
Another 15-year-old boy and two girls, 14 and 16, were also taken to a hospital, Campbell said. Two have since been released, and the extent of the third’s injuries was not known Wednesday morning, he said.
A former Westlake High student, Austin Eis, 24, was arrested in connection with the crash and accused of stabbing a Walmart employee in Simi Valley earlier Tuesday. He was booked on seven felony counts, including murder and attempted murder, according to the Sheriff’s Office, which said evidence at the scene of the crash and witness statements led authorities to believe the crash was intentional.
Eis has no known criminal history, and it was not immediately clear whether he knew the teenagers, Campbell said.
The Walmart employee was hospitalized in unknown condition, officials said. Authorities did not disclose a motive for the stabbing or the vehicle attack.
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A close friend of the Welling family created a GoFundMe page to help with funeral costs, which by Wednesday afternoon had raised nearly 10 times its initial $15,000 goal.
“He was such a bright and happy kid,” said Eric Paul, 32, who set up the online fundraiser. “During the summers, he would come over here and go swimming in our pool.”
Wesley had been excited to start high school, joining his older sister at Westlake, and talked about attending college, Paul said.
“He had his whole life ahead of him,” Paul said. “It’s awful that this guy yesterday woke up and chose violence.”
Wesley was the middle child, Paul said, calling the Wellings a close family who often went camping or to the beach.
“They went on so many trips,” Paul said. “They did everything as a big family.”
Wesley loved to play video and board games, said his younger brother, Cody. The two had shared a bedroom, Paul said.
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“He loved being a big brother,” Paul said.
Candles and flowers piled up outside Westlake High School on Wednesday, and a vigil has been scheduled for later in the evening, according to KABC-TV Channel 7.
Mental health counselors will be on campuses districtwide Wednesday for students, staff and families, said Supt. Mark McLaughlin of the Conejo Valley Unified School District.
“During this time of unimaginable loss, our thoughts and prayers remain with these students, their families, friends, and the entire Warrior community,” McLaughlin said in a statement to parents.
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