A 16-year-old girl, a soccer player at Jefferson High School in El Paso, was killed the night of Thursday, September 17, 2026, when the car she was driving struck a tree near the El Paso Zoo. The crash happened around 9:30 p.m. in the 4000 block of East Paisano Drive in south-central El Paso, Texas. Police say the teen was driving a 2006 Chrysler 300 eastbound on Paisano Drive when she lost control of the vehicle. She was pronounced dead at the scene. The crash marked El Paso’s 44th traffic fatality of 2026, compared to 43 fatalities recorded at the same point in 2025.
According to Hoodline, the El Paso Police Department did not release the teen’s name, but community members identified her through two GoFundMe pages set up to help her mother cover funeral expenses; Hoodline reported that the mother works two jobs that offer no paid time off and is now facing those costs on top of her grief. KVIA reported that EPPD’s Special Traffic Investigations Unit responded to the scene at 4001 East Paisano Drive and that the case remains under investigation. Neither outlet reported any extended closure of Paisano Drive following the crash. No other vehicles were reported involved.
