On Thursday night, Nov. 15, friends and family gathered around the corner of 1st St. and Virgil Ave. to honor the death of, Cal State LA freshman, Andy Olivera. The flower adorned traffic light served as the centerpiece of the vigil which overflowed onto the street by attendees.
The 18-year-old was fatally struck by a car while training for a marathon in the early morning around 1 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 10. According to police, the hit-and-run suspect is still at large. The Los Angeles Police Department released footage of the incident that took place on Nov. 10 rendering Olivera deceased at the scene.
Josieline Hernandez-Cruz, a close friend of Olivera’s, told the UT that Olivera was a very determined young man. “There was nothing he couldn’t do,” Cruz explained.
Olivera was the first in his family to attend a college. Cruz and her husband Angel Hernandez-Cruz, both Cal State LA Alumni, urged him to look into Cal State LA.
Angel Cruz explained that, “He came up to us, asking us, ‘Where do I go? How do I apply?’ We told him go to a school that would benefit you. But at the same time he’s like, ‘But what would benefit my family? What would help them?’” To that, the couple both responded “Cal State LA.”
After applying, Olivera was offered a full-ride scholarship with a Mechanical Engineering major to Cal State LA.
Outside of class, Olivera was known as an active participant in his community. He volunteered at multiple local non-profit art studios. One of the organizations he volunteered at, A Very Rare Shop, located in downtown LA, is where he would practice DJing EDM and Jersey Club music. According to those who knew him, Olivera was also known for his scooter.
Ron Evans, a fellow volunteer at A Very Rare Shop, remembered Olivera always utilizing his personal scooter to get around, “[he’d] come through and scoot, cause he’s always on his scooter, so he’d come scoot to our spot.”
Olivera’s productive mindset was very well known amongst his friends and family. Many, including Evans, looked back on his willingness to take on multiple extracurriculars.
“He also started to be involved with another organization that we linked up with [and] we didn’t even know that he’d go over there too. So it was like, ‘jeezes, you’re everywhere.’ Like he really makes me question 24 hours now,” Evan explained. “I’m like ‘I don’t do enough,’ cause there’s no way he was doing school, work, jogging, running, even scooting… he had 48 hours in one day.”
After friends and family paid their condolences to their friend and family member, the vigil continued as Evelia Muñozcano, Olivera’s mother, led the crowd of people further up the street and placed a cross on the sidewalk, approximately adjacent to where Olivera fell victim to the car crash. Here, they came together to pray over Olivera.
While reflecting back on her friend, Cruz explained that “he didn’t want to be alone. And it makes me sad because he left alone. But he’s not though, because we’re always here. And he knows that we’re always here for him.”
