SAN ANTONIO – The community is mourning the loss of a young middle school student killed in a car crash.
Emily Zaltsman, 13, loved to swim and was a volleyball player at Rawlinson Middle School.
"It's just really sad that somebody who really tries and is a good person, that happens, it's really sad " eighth-grader Charly Aide said.
Friends took to social media to remember Emily, who had her Bat Mitzvah back in April. Classmates said she swam and played on the volleyball team and had just finished up a volleyball game when tragedy struck.
Police say around 6:15 p.m. Thursday, Zaltsman was riding in the back seat of a vehicle that was stuck in traffic in an eastbound lane on Northwest Loop 1604. That's when an SUV slammed into the back of the vehicle.
Zaltsman suffered severe head trauma and was taken to University Hospital, where she later died.
"I know that she was a bubbly and just a sweet person, and I heard how smart she was and how pretty she was, and she had so much going for her. It's just really sad," said Charly Aide, an eighth-grader at Rawlinson.
Even students who didn't know Zaltsman said throughout the school Friday, there was a different vibe. There were up to 25 grief counselors standing by to help students.
"I saw three kids coming to the theater classroom. They were sobbing and crying," said Nevada Aide, a six-grade student at Rawlinson.
In the midst of mourning, Rawlinson Middle School Principal Mark Rustan sent KSAT 12 a statement saying, "Emily embodied the essence of the model student, a caring compassionate leader. Emily was involved in our school community and will be deeply missed."
