Friends pay tribute to Boy Scout, volunteer killed in camping trip

Boy Scouts from all over the state gathered Monday evening in Carrollton to pay tribute to a scout and a volunteer who died during a camping trip last week.

Troop 121 meets at a church in Carrolton every Monday night. This still met this week, but under circumstances the group couldn't have imagined they would face.

Christian Sanchez,13, and volunteer Nickie Lac were on an adventure trek near the U.S. Canadian border when severe storms hit their campsite early Thursday morning.

The Boy Scouts of America say high winds knocked down trees which killed Sanchez and Lac. Two others were seriously hurt but expected to survive. A total of nine people were on the trip.

Scouts and families from across North Texas went to pay their respects at Carrollton church. At the church doors, rocks were arranged to form two trail signs. The circles with a rock in the middle meant to signal to fellow scouts two have "gone home."

“Both were just outstanding members of the scouting family,” said Scout executive Pat Currie. “You can see by the outpouring. It’s not just the people from their own individual troop. It's people from the entire scouting family and from this area of town.”

Lac was a mother of four. Sanchez was part of the scouts since the first grade. His family says he was looking forward to the trip and wanted to be an Eagle Scout.

The scouts say they are offering grief counseling. The families of Sanchez and Lac are working out their own funeral arrangements.