‘He was a good kid, a great kid’: Teens mourn Buffalo Grove High students killed in Wheeling crash

Teen mourners, some with flowers and memorial candles, visited a busy Wheeling intersection Wednesday to pay their respects to four Buffalo Grove High School students killed the night before in a three-vehicle crash.

They remembered their classmates as helpful, funny and nice.

And they used words like “devastated” to describe how relatives and friends were feeling.

Three of the teens were Wheeling residents: Richard Deita, 18; Kevin R. Hernandez-Teran, 17; and Jesus Rodriguez, 16. The fourth was 17-year-old Ricky Barcenas of Arlington Heights.

Deita was driving a black Ford Explorer in which all the teens were riding, police said. A fifth teen in the Explorer was injured but survived, as did the drivers of the other two vehicles.

Barcenas succumbed to injuries about 2:12 a.m. Wednesday at Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, the Lake County coroner’s office announced. The others died at hospitals in Cook County.

The crash occurred about 10:20 p.m. at Dundee and Schoenbeck roads, not far from the high school the teens attended.

The Explorer was speeding east on Dundee Road when it drove through a red light and struck a silver Genesis that was turning from northbound Schoenbeck onto westbound Dundee, police said. It then hit a blue Ford Edge on Dundee that was preparing to go south on Schoenbeck.

Six of the seven people involved in the crash had to be freed from vehicles by firefighters.

Barcena’s mother, Brenda Lorenzo, said her son was about to graduate with a 3.89 GPA.

“He was just the smartest kid,” she said. “I’m glad God let me have him for 17 years.”

Lorenzo said her son had been out to eat with friends before the crash. They texted each other minutes before the crash.

“He was, like, ‘Mom, I’ll be home in five minutes,’” she said. “And then 10 minutes went by and I didn’t hear from him. I called him, and he didn’t answer. I called his friend, and he didn’t answer. And then I heard from one of his friends that there was the accident.”

Buffalo Grove High was closed Wednesday because of a fire the day before. Northwest Suburban High School District 214 officials said counselors and other resources will be available for students when the school reopens.

No information was available Wednesday about the conditions of the three people who survived the crash. All had been taken to hospitals.

The crash remains under investigation.

Anyone who witnessed the crash can call Wheeling police at (847) 459-2632.

• Daily Herald staff writers Jake Griffin and Steve Zalusky contributed to this story.

https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20230517/he-was-a-good-kid-a-great-kid-teens-mourn-buffalo-grove-high-students-killed-in-wheeling-crash