New Jersey Unlicensed Driver Strikes, Kills 7-Year-Old Boy; Injures Woman, Prosecutors Say

A family is mourning a young boy who was struck and killed by an unlicensed driver while he was walking across a highway in South Jersey with his grandmother.

Marco Yu, 7, his 71-year-old grandmother and his 3-year-old brother were crossing White Horse Pike in Egg Harbor City near Buffalo Avenue on Wednesday around 8:45 p.m.

As they were walking, Yu and his grandmother were struck by a pickup truck. The boy was pronounced dead at the scene while his grandmother was hospitalized with undisclosed injuries that are considered life-threatening. Yu's younger brother was not hurt.

Ines Ramirez lives near the scene of the crash and witnessed the aftermath.

"When I seen them put the blanket on the little boy, that just makes me choke up so bad," she said.

Prosecutors identified the driver as 30-year-old Jorge Rodriguez of Horsham, Pennsylvania. He was released after being charged with being an unlicensed driver involved in a fatal crash. He was also ticketed for not having a license. It wasn't known Thursday if he retained an attorney.

"No driver's license," Nicole Ren, Yu's mother, said while in tears. "Why are you driving the car?"

Yu's family owns a restaurant in the area. Yu, his grandmother and brother had visited a grocery store shortly before the crash.

"I have a baby," Ramirez said. "To think that they're just going to the grocery store and not coming back, it was so sad."

Yu's family insisted he knew how to safely cross a street.

"He's a very, very good boy," Yu's aunt, Paris Ren, told NBC10. "He knows everything. Sometimes [on a] red light I go. He says, 'Auntie, don't go.'"

The Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office is investigating the crash and wants to hear from anyone who witnessed it.