Rep. Beth Van Duyne demands justice in Grapevine Lake deadly jet ski hit-and-run

GRAPEVINE, Texas - Congresswoman Beth Van Duyne, of Irving, TX, is demanding justice for the death of 18-year-old Ava Moore. Moore was kayaking on Grapevine Lake Memorial Day weekend when a jet ski crashed into her, and the jet ski operator left the area.

Beth Van Duyne demands justice

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In an interview with Fox & Friends on Friday, Van Duyne said she personally sponsored Moore's application to the Air Force Academy two times. She said this incident should never have happened.

"I am still livid about what happened and why it happened," Van Duyne told "Fox & Friends" Friday. 

She said she is "committed to securing justice for the victim's family."

Van Duyne said she believes the crash was avoidable. 

"These two Venezuelan illegal immigrants who should never have been in our country," she said on Fox & Friends, "who just recklessly were on a jet ski and smashed into Ava as she was home with her family before she was getting ready to go to boot camp."

READ MORE: Grapevine Lake jet ski hit-and-run highlights political focus on immigrant crimes

Van Duyne said Moore was left in the water to die.

The Texas representative said she has been in touch with the Moore family since the crash. 

Moore was just weeks away from starting basic training for the U.S. military, a dream her friends and family said she was proud to pursue.

She had recently graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy Preparatory School and was home visiting her parents in North Texas for Memorial Day. 

The backstory:

The crash happened near Oak Grove Park on Grapevine Lake on the evening of May 25.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, two women were on a jet ski that was traveling at a high rate of speed and dangerously close to other people in the water.

Witnesses told investigators that Moore and other kayakers tried to paddle away before she was struck from behind.

The 18-year-old victim suffered severe head trauma. She was pulled to shore by bystanders, then taken to a hospital where she later died from her injuries.

Authorities said a passenger on the jet ski stayed at the scene and spoke with first responders. But the driver, later identified as Daikerlyn Alejandraa Gonzalez Gonzalez, got into a vehicle with a man, later identified as Maikel Coello Perozo.

Several parked vehicles were hit as the pair drove away from the scene.

Witnesses provided officers with photos and videos taken immediately after the accident, and a tip line was later set up to identify the suspects, receiving more than 900 tips.

The arrest affidavit says that Gonzalez and Perozo were identified based on tips and facial recognition software.

READ MORE: Grapevine Lake jet ski hit-and-run: Suspects had suitcase packed at time of arrest

Both suspects entered the country illegally from Venezuela, according to ICE.

ICE officials said they were both arrested at the time of their entry, processed for a notice to appear, then released on their own recognizance.

ICE said both are now in removal proceedings.

Grapevine Lake Jet Ski Crash Bond

Several political officials and immigration authorities pushed for "no bond to be assigned" to Daikerlyn Alejandraa Gonzalez Gonzalez and Maikel Coello Perozo, both 21-years-old, following the death of 18-year-old Ava Moore.

But a magistrate on Thursday set Gonzalez’s bond for a manslaughter charge at $500,000. 

Perozo’s bond was set at a little more than $3,000 for his misdemeanor charges, including hindering apprehension and an accident involving damage to a vehicle.

However, both suspects now have an immigration hold on them.

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The immigration hold means that if the suspects do post bond, they will stay in custody until they answer the state charges against them or until they are deported.

United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials would pick them up if either of them posted bond, and take them to a federal facility, or they could stay in the Tarrant County jail, where they are now.

GrapevineCrime and Public Safety