Cinco de Mayo celebrations turned to mourning in Wendover with the tragic death of a three year old Vanessa Gomez Monday night.
Like many Wendover Latino and even non-Latino families Cinco de Mayo is celebrated over the week-end with barbecue picnics, soccer or softball games and family lots of family.
According to Tooele County Sheriff Paul Wimmer, About 30 or 40 Gomez family members had spent the day playing soccer and taking part in other activities before finishing the evening at 800 East and 300 South in Wendover, Utah.
After one vehicle filled, a woman who owned the second vehicle ran back inside the house to get her keys, leaving Vanessa outside with the others.
“In the confusion, this little 3-year-old ended up standing in front of an SUV,” Wimmer said.
As the male driver, 23-year-old Jesus Gonzalez, was pulling forward away from the house, he ran over Vanessa. Sheriff’s deputies say the SUV full of passengers was traveling very slowly and Gonzalez said he just didn’t see the girl.
Witnesses administered CPR as emergency crews arrived but the girl died before crews could take her to a hospital.
Deputies say Gonzalez is a family member of the girl. He voluntarily took a drug test. Investigators don’t believe drugs or alcohol played a factor in the accident. The incident is still under investigation.
The death of the little girl has shaken Wendover
With Mexican-American or Mexican immigrants making up between 60 to 70 percent of Wendover’s total population. Cinco de mayo is widely celebrated in the Nevada/Utah border town, if not on the 5th of May as its name suggest but on the most convenient date near the 5th of May.
