Family releases balloons to remember baby killed in Brooklyn Center crash

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. (FOX 9) - Family members are mourning the loss of a one-year-old boy who was killed in a crash early Sunday morning in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota.

The state patrol says a 2003 Ford Explorer was heading north on Dupont Avenue around 2:30 a.m. when the SUV hit the barrier and flipped onto the highway below. Family members say the boy, Kareem Miller, died in the crash. His parents and three other children in the vehicle were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

The family came together Monday night on a bridge over I-94 to mark an unimaginable loss. Family friend K.G. Wilson helped Kareem's loved ones hold a vigil so they could mourn and give each other a shoulder to lean on.

Then they released balloons in Kareem's memory to symbolize his spirit going up to heaven.

"It brought me to tears, added more to my heart that is already broken…to hear that another child lost their life just hits me in my chest," Wilson said.

As a grandfather, Wilson knows the pain of losing a grandchild. In his case, his six-year-old granddaughter Aniya died to gun violence, and he says it’s a wound that won't soon go away.

"This is something I didn't want for nobody, but today here we are," he said. 

The crash is still under investigation. Officials say alcohol was a factor in the crash, and according to Hennepin County jail records, the driver of the vehicle was booked on suspicion of criminal vehicular homicide charges.