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'He made us a family': Vigil held for Logan boy killed on fishing trip with father, younger brother

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Updated  July 27, 2023 6:53am EDT
Philadelphia
FOX 29 Philadelphia

Vigil held for Logan boy killed on fishing trip with father

The Logan community is wrapping their arms around a family who lost their 8-year-old son and brother when a driver plowed into their parked car. A vigil was held Wednesday night as the parents shared memories of Javier Velez.

LOGAN - A community is in mourning in Logan holding a vigil for an 8-year-old boy who died after a fishing trip with his father.

"You're gonna push me? Yeah. Fine. Let’s go," said a happy 8-year-old Javier Velez, while playing with his younger brother, Jerry, on an early morning fishing trip with their dad.

"I'm gonna jump in that water with the crab," he is heard saying. It would be the last video Javier would record on his now smashed up cellphone recovered from the car crash that claimed his life.

"He started our family. He made us a family. We are nothing without him," said Kaylah Smith. She and Orlando Velez are drowning in grief over the loss of their firstborn seen in a picture wearing his birthday outfit.

"He was amazing. He was a good kid," said his father, Orlando. Javier turned eight on July 8th but in the early morning hours of July 23rd he was killed.

"He did not just kill him. He killed all of us. We are all broken. We will never be the same," said his mom, Kaylah.

Absecon Police say Javier was asleep in a car around 3:25 that morning while his father packed up to head back home to Philadelphia. Investigators say 25-year-old Edward Johnston, of Egg Harbor City, went off the road on White Horse Pike and hit the car Javier was in parked on the shoulder.

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"He didn’t deserve that. He did not need to die," said Kaylah. Little Jerry had just gotten out of the car moments before.

"He could have been gone too," said Kaylah.

Fishing was what this now heartbroken dad did with his two boys almost every other weekend. It was their time together and they loved it.

"You got something. Yeah. You do. Reel it in!" said dad on cellphone video with an excited Javier from a previous fishing outing.

"Your first catch!" said Orlando to his son.

Wednesday night, the family held a vigil outside their home in Logan to honor the handsome little boy who loved to play basketball and draw. His parents now have tattoos of his drawings.

"We cannot rest until that man is punished. He is walking free right now," said Kaylah.

Police and the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office say Johnston, the driver, was issued several motor vehicle summonses but that more charges could come after the cause of the crash is determined. There is a GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses.