A 21-year-old college hockey captain who dreamed of becoming a police officer was killed in a wrong-way crash involving a Mexican national who repeatedly entered the United States illegally after previously being removed, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed to Fox News Digital.
Ryan O’Shea, a senior at the University of New Haven, was driving south on Interstate 91 in North Haven late Oct. 16 when a Chevrolet Silverado traveling the wrong way slammed head-on into his Honda Accord, Connecticut State Police said.
According to the State Police accident summary, 31-year-old Guillermo Carmona-Lopez of Bridgeport was driving the Silverado.
The crash sent O’Shea’s car into another lane, where it was struck by a Jeep before moving onto the right shoulder and being hit by a third vehicle.
O’Shea suffered fatal injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene. Carmona-Lopez was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital with serious, life-threatening injuries, while three other people suffered minor injuries.
DHS told Fox News Digital that Carmona-Lopez entered the U.S. illegally multiple times despite previously being removed and receiving a final order of removal.
“In May 2013, Border Patrol arrested Guillermo Carmona-Lopez, a criminal illegal alien from Mexico, after he illegally entered the country,” a DHS spokesperson said. “Carmona-Lopez was issued an expedited removal and was removed from the country.”
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Carmona-Lopez then illegally reentered the country near the Rio Grande Valley and was arrested again by Border Patrol that same month, DHS said.
“Carmona-Lopez was issued a final order of removal on May 30, 2013,” the spokesperson said. “He then reentered the country at an unknown time and place.”
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O’Shea, of Stony Point, New York, was studying criminal justice with a concentration in police science at the University of New Haven and served as senior captain of the men’s club hockey team.
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He interned with the New York City Police Department over the summer and hoped to join the NYPD after graduation before eventually pursuing a career with the Drug Enforcement Administration, the university said.
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“Ryan wanted to go into public service in order to help others,” his academic advisor, Lorenzo Boyd, said in a university tribute. “He was engaging in the classroom and will be missed greatly.”
Devin Bertrand, general manager of the men’s ice hockey club, remembered O’Shea as someone whose “infectious personality lit up our locker room the moment he walked in.”
O’Shea also served as president of his Kappa Sigma fraternity chapter, which said he was returning from a hockey game when the crash occurred.
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“Ryan was not only a great leader, but he was a caring friend to anyone around him,” the fraternity said in a social media tribute. “He always knew how to light up a room and make people laugh, no matter the time.”
The State Police Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Squad responded to the scene and is assisting with the investigation, which remains ongoing.
“Under President Trump and Secretary Mullin, if you break the law, you will face the consequences,” the DHS spokesperson said. “Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.”