Family, friends mourn 16-year-old boy killed in Santa Clara solo crash

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (KGO) -- An emotional tribute was held in Santa Clara Sunday night from family and friends who are mourning the loss of a 16-year-old boy.

They gathered last night to hold a candlelight vigil at the site where Isaiah Mendoza died less than 24 hours earlier.

Isaiah was killed in a single car crash Saturday night on Lawrence Expressway, at Benton Street in Santa Clara.

Many of his classmates left flowers and messages of love at the intersection.

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Earlier in the day, there was a smaller gathering at that same intersection when his family placed flowers at the scene of the accident.

The crash happened not too far from the family's home in Santa Clara.

His grandfather says Isaiah had just received his driver's license about a month and a half ago.

"We don't even know how to process it yet. It's just so overwhelming," Robert Maes Jr. said. "He had you feel like he was your best friend. And, if he was out with someone else, he made that person feel like they were his best friend, because they all were. To him, everybody, his schoolmates, his teammates, they were his best friend."

Isaiah was a junior at Wilcox High School where he played varsity football, soccer and baseball.