Family and friends mourn crash victims as 2 remain hospitalized; driver fled Indiana police last month
MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- We're learning more about the three people who were killed Tuesday night when a fleeing driver slammed into their car at 35th and Vliet.
Family and friends held a vigil Wednesday evening, Sept. 17, near the crash site. The vigil was mostly quiet. Few people spoke, but sobbing could be heard throughout.
A mother and her two sons are dead, and two other children remain hospitalized.
Fifty-year-old Pler Moo and her sons, 21-year-old Moo Nay Taw and 15-year-old Karlah Kri Moo, were killed in the violent crash.
Mook Wah is Pler Moo's niece and cousin to the boys. She told us, "Right now, we just feel sadness. There are no other words to describe it. Just grief."
Many of the mourners still feel a numbness.
Naw Paw Wah, another niece, said, "We're just asking you to pray for us so we can be strong. It's very hard."
Family members told us the grief is overwhelming, and anger has not set in yet.
Pler was remembered as a great mother who was always there for her children.
Mook Wah said, "She's very hardworking. She's very caring. She always took care of the family."
Family said the boys were also hardworking, like their mother.
The younger of the two, Karlah, wanted to go to college. His older brother worked to help his family.
Mook Wah said, "Moo Nay, he works to support his family. He helps with the bills."
On Wednesday evening, more than 100 family members, friends, and supporters gathered at the crash site.
Mook Wah said, "We couldn't have done this without them. So, everyone who showed up, we're very, very thankful."
Pler's husband stoically mourned his wife and sons.
The Moo family is Karen, an ethnic group from Myanmar that has historically been oppressed by colonial rule.
Years ago, Pler Moo and her husband fled what was then Burma. They lived in a refugee camp in Thailand for 10 years. Their children were born there.
In 2011, they were re-settled in the United States.
Mook Wah said, "They were still very young, so basically they consider Milwaukee their home for my young cousins."
The family was killed Tuesday when another driver fled police in a stolen car and started a high-speed chase.
The chase spanned one mile, lasted less than a minute, and cost three lives.
Milwaukee police records show the driver was arrested for "flee/elude causing death." That 19-year-old fled police in Indiana just two-and-a-half weeks ago.
He was caught and arrested. A prosecuting attorney in Indiana told us his $5,000 bond was paid one week before the fatal Milwaukee crash.
Two more children who were in the car, a boy and a girl, remain hospitalized with serious injuries.
One will have her 19th birthday Thursday. Mook Wah said, "We're sad, but we also have to be strong for the other two because they still have no idea what's going on."
The family had been planning a surprise party.
Naw Paw Wah said, "My aunt, I talked to her, she said she wanted to cook her favorite food. But it's already too late. She's gone."
We're not naming the driver yet because he has not been charged.
He does have an open gun case in Milwaukee after he was arrested last July for firing a semi-automatic handgun in Sherman Park.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family with expenses related to the crash.
That link can be accessed here.