Last month, Loyola High School in Los Angeles celebrated Braun Levi Senior for moving to the best children's tennis ranks.
The 18 -year -old won another victory only a few days ago, winning the double mission league championship. In a photo, the Radiant Levi is next to the Cooper Schwartz teammate, holding four fingers, one for each of its four consecutive league double championships.
Those achievements had to be a bit balm for the Levi family, arriving only a few months after his house in Pacific Palisades burned in the storm of fire in January. The family had moved to the southern bay.
He felt beyond understanding, then, when the director of Loyola, Jamal Adams, sent an email to the students and personnel of the Catholic Jesuit school on Sunday to inform them that Levi had been killed in a traffic accident only hours before, a month before his graduation of the secondary school.
“Braun was a brilliant presence in our Loyola family,” Adams wrote, “bringing light, joy and inspiration to all who played.”
The director invited the Loyola school family to a prayer vigil at the Campus on Sunday night. “All members of our community are welcome to join us while we met in Unity and Memory,” Adams wrote.
Manhattan Beach police said they had arrested a 33 -year -old woman from the angels under suspicion of drunk driving and homicide in relation to the accident, which they occurred after midnight on Sunday morning.
A brief press release from the department said only a call arrived at 12:46 AM about a traffic accident that involved a pedestrian in the 100 block of South Seppulveda Boulevard. They found the victim, whom they did not identify, lying on the street.
The police statement said Jenia Belt in Los Angeles had been arrested in the accident. Belt remained in the Manhattan Beach prison on Sunday, said a police surveillance commander.
The friends shower Levi's social media accounts with tributes to him. Levi had to attend the University of Virginia in autumn.
“Anyone who has known how lucky they are,” said a message. “You never met a stranger and you left an impact on everyone you met. I will live and love as great as you every day.”
He said another: “Whether he was lucky enough to cross the way with him for an hour or his whole life, he left an impression. It was impossible to be sad or boring when Braun was close, and his gift to lift those around him was really singular.”
The images of Levi's social networks suggest a prototypical education in southern California. He is spinning in a high lake with his family, arm arm with friends on the beach, posing for a selfie with actor Adam Sandler and rocking a pink suit and a fedora next to a horse racing track.
Only two years ago, another Loyola High student died in the last weeks of his high school career. Ryan Times, a pitcher in the baseball team, was beaten and killed by a train in April 2023, when the school was on spring holiday.
Brian said, coach of the tennis team of the University team Loyola, named Levi, a three -year -old captain, “probably the most decorated player who has played for school.”
Held also taught Levi in Economics and AP statistics. “We are all stunned, devastated and disconsolate with this tragedy,” Held said by email. “Braun was the most surprising and versatile leader, whom everyone loved, even his opponents. He was that kind of child, as one of his teachers, I witnessed how he brought joy to all.”
Levi survives his parents and an old sister.
The Times staff writer Eric Sondheimer contributed to this report.
