{"id":937773,"date":"2026-07-16T01:22:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T01:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/937773\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T01:22:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T01:22:16","slug":"community-gathers-for-vigil-after-fatal-crash-tied-to-ice-encounter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/937773\/","title":{"rendered":"Community gathers for vigil after fatal crash tied to ICE encounter"},"content":{"rendered":"

ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 A crowd gathered Wednesday night along State Road 16 in St. Johns County, holding signs and lighting candles to honor the man killed a day earlier in a crash that Florida Highway Patrol says followed an encounter involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).<\/p>\n

The vigil was held near SR-16 and Green Acres Road, where FHP says a 28-year-old man ran into traffic and was struck by a tractor-trailer.<\/p>\n

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, troopers were dispatched around 6:42 a.m. Tuesday to a traffic fatality on State Road 16 at Green Acres Road.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/b>\u2018Outrage at this system\u2019: Advocates plan Jacksonville rally after man dies fleeing ICE agents in St. Johns County<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

FHP says a tractor-trailer was traveling eastbound when the man ran across the road and into the truck\u2019s path. He suffered fatal injuries and died at the scene. FHP said the tractor-trailer driver stopped immediately and attempted to render aid and was not injured.<\/p>\n

Troopers say the moments leading up to the crash began at a nearby gas station parking lot on SR-16, where Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and ICE agents had an encounter with a vehicle. FHP says four occupants fled on foot and one of them ran across SR-16 before being hit.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security provided News4JAX a statement confirming a DHS operation in the area and noting investigators are still working the case:<\/p>\n

\u201cOn July 14, DHS law enforcement conducted an operation near St. Johns, Florida. Florida Highway Patrol and HSI are investigating an incident resulting in the death of a Mexican national. We will provide an update when available.\u201d<\/p>\n

Candles and flowers left for 28-year-old who died in a crash after encounter with ICE (News4JAX)<\/p>\n

Wednesday night, people lined the shoulder of SR-16, leaving flowers, candles and handwritten messages at the site of the crash. Passing drivers honked as they went by.<\/p>\n

One organizer, Katie Chorbak, said the group wanted to raise awareness about immigration enforcement actions and what she described as a broader pattern of fear and escalation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the same level of violence,\u201d Chorbak said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s with a gun or you\u2019re forcing people to run into traffic, violence is violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Community gathers along SR-16 in St. Johns County for candlelight vigil. (News4JAX)<\/p>\n

Another attendee, Jaime Swedeen, said she came out to show support for the victim\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d Swedeen said. \u201cAll these people out here and people across the country are not going to let him die in vain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. \u2013 A crowd gathered Wednesday night along State Road 16 in St. Johns County,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":937774,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,3188,723,5410,409,7310,14638,99181,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,37263],"class_list":["post-937773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-america","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-ice","tag-immigration","tag-jacksonville","tag-st-johns-county","tag-state-road-16","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-vigil"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116927040428169987","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=937773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/937773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/937774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=937773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=937773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=937773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}