Alleged suspect identified in hit and run crash killing 15-year-old Parlier boy

PARLIER, Calif. (KFSN) -- A wooden cross, candles and flowers lay just feet away from where Parlier police say 15-year-old Juliani Moreno was tragically hit and killed by a car Tuesday evening.

"I had just had him in my hand and he was completely gone," explained Mercedes, who said she was Juliani's girlfriend.

Mercedes didn't want her face shown, but says she was walking with him here on Mendocino and Parlier Avenues when the crash happened.

"I was holding his hand. We were walking shoulder-to-shoulder here," she explained. "It all went by so quick. It was like an explosion and it hit my leg, and he was nowhere next to me."

Parlier police say 35-year-old Tiffany Mercado was driving under the influence when she hit and killed Juliani.

Moments after the crash, video from Francy's Bridal Flower shop shows the suspected vehicle racing through the front of the shop, about a block away from the deadly scene.

Action News was there as Mercado appeared to wobble through a sobriety test.

Her alleged victim only a freshman at Immanuel High School in Reedley.

"He's the kind of kid that once you get to know, he just has a heart of gold. Very sweet, tender-hearted young man," Immanuel High School principal Phil Goertzen said about Juliani.

The school district has pastors on campus for students and staff struggling with the loss.

"When you have a friend, a young man who cares and wants to be part of a different place here at Immanuel, it's something that not just breaks your heart but makes you hurt, makes you hurt for the family and what's going on," Goertzen said.

As family and friends mourn Juliani, Mercado is booked in the Fresno County jail, facing multiple charges, including gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated.

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