Crash kills Santa Maria girl, injures three others

October 1, 2024

By JOSH FRIEDMAN

An 11-year-old Santa Maria girl died, and three adults suffered injuries as a result of a crash by Vandenberg Village on Sunday.

Shortly before 5 p.m., Jose Alfred Gonzalez, 65, was stopped at a stop sign on Santa Lucia Canyon Road at the intersection with Highway 1. Gonzalez, who was driving a 2020 Toyota Camry, was preparing to make a left turn. 

Shane Giles, a 21-year-old Lompoc man, was driving a 2005 Toyota Prius southbound on Highway 1 just north of Santa Lucia Canyon Road. Gonzalez entered the intersection to make the left turn. Giles’s Prius then struck the left side of Gonzalez’s Camry, according to the CHP.

Giles suffered major injuries as a result of the crash. Gonzalez sustained minor injures. 

The Santa Maria girl, as well as Luz Maria Gonzalez, 59, of Lompoc were also traveling in the Camry. Luz Maria Gonzalez sustained minor injuries.

Following the crash, CHP personnel and Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s deputies arrived at the scene.An ambulance transported all of the patients to the hospital. 

The Santa Maria girl later died of her injuries at Lompoc Valley Medical Center.

The cause of the collision remains under investigation.