15-Year-Old Dies After Crossing in Front of Slow-Moving Train on the Way to School: 'He Was So Kind'

Mar. 15, 2025

Sergio Rodriguez.Photo:GoFundMe

GoFundMe

A community in Texas is in mourning after a 15-year-old boy died when he crossed in front of a slow-moving train while he walked to school.

Police were working with Union Pacific Railroad police to get video footage, but Elsbury called Rodriguez’s death “a tragic accident.”

A representative with the Houston Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for additional information.

In a statement, Union Pacific said it “shares Houston’s grief” following the event in which Rodriguez “made a tragic decision to try and outrun a moving train.”

“We want to remind students and others to only cross train tracks at designated crossings and never ignore train horns or the lights and safety gates,” the railroad company said. “Our hearts go out to the family, students and train crew who witnessed this terrible incident.”

The railroad tracks, across the street from the high school, have been a decades-long impediment for pedestrians, according to those who live in the area and attend the school.

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In the wake of the junior varsity football player’s death, his friends and family are remembering Rodriguez as a “sweet boy," one fellow sophomore recalled to the station.

“He was so kind, smart, funny,” Rodriguez’s sister, Cecilia,wrote on a GoFundMe. “Full of life and a student dedicated to football. He was taken away from us too soon."

source: people.com