Babcock Ranch community continues to mourn death of teen in car crash

A community is mourning after the death of a 16-year-old boy.

Dane Zigrand was killed in a car crash on Saw Palmetto Parkway in Babcock Ranch on Wednesday.

On Wednesday night, a candlelight vigil was held to honor him at Babcock Ranch High School.

On Thursday, people from across the community have shown up at the site of the crash to honor him and lay flowers where he lost his life.

“They were like … ‘Did you hear what happened?’ … and I was like ‘Yeah, can we not talk about it,'” said Rowen Curley, who is 11 years old. “We saw a lot of people putting flowers there.”

When Rowen got out of school, he told his mom he wanted to go do the same.

“We were like, we’ll join in. We feel sorry for him, so we went and got flowers and put them there for him,” Rowen said.

Rowen said Dane was a very kind person.

“Well-hearted, like feels pain for like, like if someone is feeling pain he feels the same pain for them as they do,” Rowen said.

Rowen can’t change what happened. He can’t control what it out of his reach. But at just 11 years old, he has the perseverance, wherewithal and understanding to know that the only thing he can control is how he handles it.

“It makes me feel good. It makes me feel not as sad as I was this morning. I think he would be proud of us for doing this,” Rowen said. “I think that this small gesture can impact a really big thing on the family.”

The cause of the crash is still under investigation.

Babcock Ranch schools are offering counseling to all of their students and faculty this week in the wake of this tragedy.