TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — A somber night on the southside Thursday at Silverlake Park as family, friends and community members gathered to honor the memory of 3-year-old Anna Magdalena Garcia, who was tragically killed in a high speed crash April 10.
Anna's father, Emmanuel (Manny) Garcia, and mother, Brianda Garcia, spoke in tears to the Tucson community who came out to mourn the loss of their little girl.
"I miss her terribly," Manny said. "I just want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart cause I'm weak but you guys feel me and I feel your love and I'll carry it with me forever. Thank you for your prayers for my wife and my baby girl."
"I knew my baby was loved, I know we love her very very much, but I didn’t know it was at this amount," Brianda said.
Brianda attended the ceremony just days after being involved in the crash and giving birth to a healthy baby girl named Ellianna.
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Family members like Brianda's cousin Jeannette Rivera, expressed their heartbreak over the traumatic loss.
"We're almost like sisters. I've known her since the day I was born, so it's hard seeing her like this. She's the sweetest person ever. She won't even hurt a fly, like honestly she's too sweet," Rivera said. "She’s the best mom ever. She loves her girls. She was just amazing. She raised them to be just like her, just super sweet."
Rivera said Anna was always smiling like her mom.
"I feel like she was her twin, you know?" Rivera continued. "It feels good that everyone's come together for her and I think that's what they need. They just need to be uplifted from everyone. They just need love and support. They're great people."
Leticia Alameda came out to show support to the Garcia family with her daughter Georgina Alameda and her friends — who all have been best friends with Brianda since elementary school. Leticia says she has nothing but fond memories of the girls.
"It's the best group of girls I've known. They've all become like my daughters. It was taking over my bedroom and movies and popcorn and they call me mom. Trampoline nights out on the backyard. They just became family," Leticia said.
She says Manny and Brianda are high school sweethearts and her home and heart are with them.
"Just to see them go through what they are going through at such a young age is the hardest thing to do," Leticia said. "Knowing the tragedy and the loss that they’ve taken. Losing one child and giving birth to another within days is such a bittersweet situation."
Georgina has been there through it all with Brianda, including raising their children together.
"Me and Brianda were actually pregnant at the same time. They were the same age, so it’s really hard. I can’t imagine what she’s going through," Georgina Alameda said. "My daughter and her were really close. She used to call her cousin Anna and Anna would call my son baby Mark even though they were just a few months apart."
Georgina and Pati Varela, another childhood friend of Brianda, described Anna as a little girl with so much energy and joy.
"She could command a room. She was a little chispa. She was just a sparkle, like that girl had some lungs on her and she was gonna use them," Varela said.
"Always singing and making up songs that didn’t make sense. Always singing, always dancing, playing ballerina," Georgina said.
"Loved animals. She was just loved," Varela continued.
The family is now taking action by introducing Anna's Law, legislation they hope will bring stricter penalties for street racing, especially in cases where it results in serious injury or death.
"If we can open this space to other people so that way this never happens to another family and it should never have happened to them. It’s preventable and that’s the message we need to send in Anna’s Law," Varela said.
"If we can keep other people safe and make sure that we show love to our community the way Brianda always has, the way the Manny always has, the way Anna did volunteering at the farm. Just loving immensely to anybody and everybody and if we can make a little bit of a change, then we'll do it. I mean, we'll continue to open up our hearts the way Brianda always taught us since we were little."
The petition requires 25,000 signatures and still needed about 3,200 more at the time of publication.
Anna's celebration of life will take place Tuesday April 28 at 9:30 a.m. at St. Augustine Cathedral. The family is asking attendees to wear something purple because it was Anna's favorite color.
READ MORE: Teen driver to be tried as adult in toddler’s crash death
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Vanessa Gongora is KGUN 9's Westside reporter.. Vanessa fell in love with storytelling by growing up in sports. She was fascinated by how sports reporters go beyond the x's & o's to tell players' stories, and how sports bring people together, inspiring Vanessa to provide the same impact as a journalist. Share your story ideas and important issues with Vanessa by emailing vanessa.gongora@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
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