Community mourns at accident site

A community in shock mourned together on Saturday evening at the site of that morning’s horrific accident.

Lakewood Ranch teenagers Brendan Shreve, 17, and Jared Duran, 15, were killed just after 5 a.m. Saturday morning when the Mercedes in which Shreve was driving lost control and hit a tree just north of Clubhouse Drive on Lakewood Ranch Boulevard.

Friends of the two boys, many of them fellow Lakewood Ranch High School students, gathered at the base of the tree, locked in sorrowful embrace. Little was said as people would place flowers at the base of the tree.

A photo of the two boys already was in place.

One friend of the family noted, “Right now, everyone is just trying to get through the next minute.”

Many of the students were overcome with grief and said they didn’t think they could attend school on Monday.

The Florida Highway Patrol investigated the accident on Saturday morning and later in the day issued a report that said the 2012 Mercedes-Benz that Shreve was driving failed to negotiate a right curve. Extreme speed was thought to be a factor in the accident. Both the driver and his passenger died at the scene.