Memorial service planned in honor of teen fatally struck by vehicle near Westlake High School

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Friday, April 28, 2023
Memorial service planned for teen killed near Westlake High School
A public memorial is scheduled to be held in honor of a 15-year-old student who was fatally struck by a vehicle while he was waiting at a bus stop near Westlake High School in Thousand Oaks.

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. (KABC) -- A public memorial is scheduled to be held in honor of a 15-year-old student who was fatally struck by a vehicle while he was waiting at a bus stop near Westlake High School in Thousand Oaks.

Wesley Welling will be remembered at a service May 13 at the Calvary Community Church in Westlake Village.

Three other students -- a 15-year-old boy and two girls ages 14 and 16 -- were injured in the rollover crash on April 18.

The driver, 24-year-old Austin Eis, of Camarillo, was charged with with murder and other counts in a series of alleged crimes that culminated with the collision.

Eis appeared in a Ventura County courtroom last week but didn't enter a plea. His attorney asked that his arraignment be postponed, and Eis was ordered held without bail until his court hearing next month, the county district attorney's office said.

"I said, 'I'm proud of you. I love you. Have a good day,' and that was the last thing I said to him," said Kelly Welling, the mother of Wesley Welling.

Prosecutors allege that he entered a Simi Valley Walmart where he used pepper spray and stabbed a worker, "physically assaulted and attempted to drag a second employee and lunged at two additional employees with a knife," according to the DA's office statement.

He then left and forced his way inside a home in neighboring Camarillo, where he argued with some members of his family, and finally drove to Thousand Oaks, where he purposely rammed his car into the students as they waited at a bus stop outside Westlake High School, authorities contend.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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