Community remembers 13-year-old boy killed by SunRail train in Sanford

SANFORD, Fla. — Dozens of people gathered at the tracks in Sanford to remember 13-year-old Marcees Kilpatrick, who died Friday when he was hit by a SunRail train.

Marcees lived in the neighborhood and was walking his bicycle next to the tracks when the train passed by in the area of Goldsboro Boulevard and Dixie Way just before 6 p.m., police said.

Residents said children had cut across the tracks for years to get from one neighborhood to another.

During the vigil Tuesday, those in attendance were given a cup of wildflower seeds to spread near the tracks where he was killed.

“I don’t sleep at night,” his guardian, Eunice Beasley, said. “I wake up thinking he’s in the room, but I look in his room (and) he’s not there.”

The Florida Department of Transportation said the area had already been identified as one needing safety improvements.

“Proposed enhancements include installing fencing in an attempt to curtail cut-through foot traffic and trespassing on the mainline rail corridor,” FDOT said. “The proposed project is currently in the development stage.”

Residents told Channel 9 that they were unhappy that it took the death of a child for something to be done to make the area safer.

FDOT did not immediately have any information on how long it would be before the fence is installed.

Cox Media Group