We were shocked to hear the tragic news last Tuesday morning, March 13, that an accident had occurred at the corner of Palisades and Saguaro Blvd. with four individuals down at the scene.

Here at the office, we were in the process of putting the current issue to bed, getting ready to send pages off to the printer. Needless to say, we were shocked when reporter Bob Burns returned from Fountain Park with additional details.

Over the following days, news concerning the accident surfaced a little bit at a time. At this point, we have shared all of the information provided by MCSO (see page 1A), though the investigation is ongoing.

Now, the town mourns the loss of Karen and Bob Bonta, as well as Patti Doorndos, and our thoughts are with Ronald Doorndos, who is still in critical condition as of this writing.

If any good can be pulled from this tragedy, it has been the response of the community. Local emergency responders were on the scene quickly and even received support from neighboring communities. Several locals who happened to be at the scene of the incident jumped to the task of performing CPR and offering assistance where needed. Two days later, a vigil was held in honor of the victims, bringing the community together to offer its support to the friends and family impacted most by Tuesday’s accident.

We think Mayor Linda Kavanagh, in her comments at the vigil, summed things up nicely. She said that even though these folks were only here for a short time, they were a part of the community of Fountain Hills. Concerning the response to last week’s tragedy, we feel that’s a community we can all be proud of.