UPDATE: The Clark County Coroner has identified the victim as 62-year-old Vivian Valentine from Las Vegas. Her death was ruled an accident.
Alex Valentine chokes up as he wonders how he'll go on without his mom.
“It's heartbreaking. I don't know how I'm going to deal with this," Valentine said. "Just heartbroken, just grief, pain."
On Monday afternoon, Alex was thrust into the depths of despair. A pickup truck struck and killed his mom, Vivian, as she crossed Convention Center Drive.
“I was by myself, inside my house, having to hear from the hospital that my mother passed away, by a truck slamming into her," Alex said.
Vivian and her husband, also named Alexander, immigrated to the U.S. in 1985 to escape the Romanian dictatorship. She eventually became a realtor here in Las Vegas. Alex says his mom was a kind and generous woman.
"She was charitable. She cared about every living soul. She enjoyed life -- one of my best friends if not my best friend,” Alex said.
Vivian took care of her disabled 97-year-old mother-in-law, Paulina, and was the sole breadwinner after her husband died a decade ago.
"She was the primary source of income, primary source of care of my family, for my grandmother and, of course, for me," Alex said.
Alex, a 23-year-old grad student at UNLV, barely has a cent to his name. Vivian did not leave a will or life insurance. Alex fears he'll be forced to do the unthinkable just to survive.
"I have to sell my house. She loved this house, she wanted to keep it," Alex said.
Alex has no other family members here in the U.S. They're all back in Romania.
Friends and neighbors have set up a GoFundMe.
ORIGINAL STORY
LAS VEGAS (KTNV) -- Police say one person is dead after being struck by a car on Monday.
It was reported around 1:05 p.m. near Channel 8 Drive and Las Vegas Boulevard. A woman was taken to the hospital with critical injuries. She was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Convention Center Drive was shut down in both directions between Channel 8 Drive and Kishner Drive as police investigated.
