Community rallies around family of boy, 9, hit & killed by Orange County school bus

ORLANDO, Fla. — A community came together Wednesday to support the family of a 9-year-old boy who was hit and killed by an Orange County school bus the day before.

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More than a hundred people gathered for a candlelight vigil at the Waterford East Apartment Complex to remember the life of Elyas Amyr Marshall-Rodriguez.

“This was a senseless tragedy,” said Trenae Gayle, Elyas’ Cousin.

“He was taken from us,” said the young boy’s uncle Richard Rodriguez. “I feel empty but we’re here. We’re here for his mom and for his dad. The whole family is here.”

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Friends and family shared stories about Elyas, people prayed for the family, and scripture was read during the vigil.

“This was special to us,” said Richard Rodriguez. “All his friends and everyone from school, his football team came here to support.”

Community Rallies around family of 9-year-old boy hit and killed by school bus A community came together Wednesday to support the family of a 9-year-old boy who was hit and killed by an Orange County school bus the day before. (WFTV)

Elyas’ family told us he was a loving and happy child.

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“He was the life of the party” said Gayle. “He loved football, he loved basketball, he loved all sports.”

And even at such a young age, he had already been through so much.

“He was in remission,” said Gayle. “He just got his port taken out last year. He was actually diagnosed with leukemia, cancer at 2 years old.”

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Elyas died just before 4 p.m. on Tuesday. Witnesses said Elyas got off the bus, started walking away, but then dropped his football and crawled under the bus to get it.

Florida Highway Patrol is still investigating, but has been able to confirm that the boy did walk away and then turned around for some reason and crawled under the bus.

His family said the show of support at the vigil means alot to them, but they know there is still a long road ahead.

“You have to take it day by day,” said Gayle. “we’re going to take it day by day.”

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