13-year-old boy riding bike killed in hit-and-run crash

A 13-year-old boy in Arizona died after being hit by a pickup truck on his way home from school, police said.

The incident happened at around 2:45 p.m. on April 26, the Goodyear Police Department said in a Facebook post. The boy, Dylan Buensuceso, was riding his bike when he was struck by a white Ford pickup truck. He died that night, police said.

The boy’s father, Frederick Buensuceso, was told at the hospital that the driver of the truck abandoned the boy after hitting him, 12 News reported.

“I was even more flabbergasted that somebody could just walk away from killing a child,” he told the outlet.

The child was a student at Estrella Mountain Elementary School in Phoenix. The school acknowledged his death in a letter to parents, saying that they would have counselors on campus for students the next day.

In the letter, principal Lyndsey Booraz asked students and parents to join her in “expressing our sympathy, concern and prayers for the boy’s family.”

“Students react in different ways to tragedies such as this,” the letter said. “As the adult caretakers, parents and guardians should expect, try to understand, and accept a variety of emotions and behaviors. The most important thing we can do is to be supportive, to encourage discussion, and to be good listeners.”

Officer Lisa Berry, with the Goodyear Police Department, told Arizona’s Family that the news must have been difficult for officers with young children to hear.

“This is heartbreaking,” Berry said. “Anybody who has to see this sort of incident is very much affected by that. So, our hearts go out to the family, to the community.”

Police think there may have been other passengers in the pickup truck at the time of the crash, 12 News reported.

Officers ask anyone with information on the damaged truck, the driver, or anything else pertaining to the case to contact them at 623-932-1220, 12 News reported.

“It’s one of the worst things that a parent could go through, to bury his child,” the boy’s father said. “I’m just urging everybody – if you see somebody, don’t hesitate to call.”