Mom Killed While Watching Fireworks Show

Valencia - A motorist was apparently not drunk when she ran a red light, causing a crash that killed a woman watching a fireworks show and injuring her three children, a sheriff's lieutenant said today.

Matilde Garnica Juarez, 43, of Newhall, was killed on the spot of the crash, at about 9:50 p.m. Sunday at McBean Parkway and Valencia Boulevard, according to Lt. Tom Bryski of the sheriff's Santa Clarita Station.

Bryski said that there had been no drunk driving arrests, but the investigation continued into what caused a 22-year-old sedan driver to pass a red signal and crash her sedan into a Dodge Durango.

The impact of the collision caused her vehicle to spin, jump a sidewalk and strike a crowd of people watching an aerial fireworks show at the nearby Westfield Valencia Town Center mall, Detective Jeff Maag said.

One of Juarez's sons was airlifted to Childrens Hospital with a head injury described as critical, Bryski said. This afternoon he said he had no update on the boy's condition.

Her two other children, 6 and 12 years old, suffered unspecified injuries described as non-life-threatening, as did four other pedestrians. All six went to Henry Mayo Memorial Hospital, Bryski said.

The names of the drivers were withheld.

Sheriff's detectives urged anyone who witnessed the crash to call the Santa Clarita Station at (661) 255-1121.