GoFundme Started For Young Sisters Killed In Scooter Crash

BARTOW, FL -- A GoFundme has been set up for the family of two young sisters who were killed Sunday when their scooter was struck by a pickup truck along Connersville Road in Wellington Place.

Twelve-year-old Charisma Vega and 9-year-old Kiara Vega were pronounced dead at Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center, according to the Polk County sheriff's office. Neither girl was wearing a helmet when the crash occurred around 4:15 p.m.

"My nieces were loving, outgoing and full of life, and they were only babies who had their whole life ahead of them and suddenly it was taken away," penned their aunt, Sabrina Camilo, in the GoFundMe.

Cammilo said the money would be used to pay funeral expenses of the children. The page raised more than $5,000 in less than a day.

"My sister, brother-in-law and our entire families are distraught and are trying to support one another," Cammilo said. "It is devastating to know that we will never get to see their faces again unless it’s a picture or hear their voice again unless it’s through video. There’s nothing in this world that could’ve ever prepared any of us for this moment."

The driver of the pickup was identified as 23-year-old Danika Whitchard, who remained on the scene. She told sheriff's deputies that she never saw the children before the crash.

"It takes a village to raise a child and an entire community to support in time of grief and need," added Cammilo. "No parent should ever have to feel the loss of their children and have to bury their children."