Texas restaurant donates Friday profits to family of teen killed in hit-and-run: 'She had a heart of gold'

Rai-ane Garza was killed in a hit-and-run on Tuesday. She was 16-years-old. (Kimberly Castillo Lawson)

A local Italian restaurant in Texas is donating 100 percent of its Friday profits to the family of a 16-year-old girl who was killed earlier this week in a hit-and-run.

The profits from Pasta Company's two locations in Corpus Christi will help Rai-ane Garza’s family pay for the teen's funeral expenses, the restaurant announced.

"Our community has suffered the loss of one King High School student and the hospitalization of another this week," Pasta Company in Corpus Christi wrote on Facebook. "Come and support this great cause and let’s continue to pray for the student in the hospital and both families."

A representative for Pasta Company could not be reached for comment when contacted by Fox News.

The high school junior was killed after a driver fatally struck her Tuesday outside of King High School. Garza was walking with friends to get an after-school snack when the incident occured, Kimberly Castillo Lawson, Garza’s cousin, told Fox News. Garza’s 15-year-old friend, Madi, was also struck by the driver and was transported to a local hospital in critical condition, she said.

Rai-ane Garza (right) poses with her friend Madi (left) before their school's homecoming dance. (Kimberly Castillo Lawson)

Lawson said she and her family are thankful for all the support they’ve received from the Corpus Christi community.

“We are really grateful to the community. We are grieving, but we are also witnessing how everyone is coming together in her name and we are just thankful for that," she said.

Lawson, who's also managing a fundraiser for Garza’s funeral expenses, said she could tell her younger cousin had a “heart of gold” from the moment she was born, adding that the 16-year-old was “still our baby but was becoming a leading woman” in her own right.

Rai-ane Garza loved to sing, her cousin said. (Kimberly Castillo Lawson)

She particularly enjoyed singing, Lawson said, adding that Garza, who celebrated her sweet sixteen in November, was a part of her high school’s choir.

“She could sing before she could talk,” Lawson said. “She first learned to sing ‘Ready to Run’ by the Dixie Chicks.”

The alleged driver, later identified as 42-year-old Elton Wayne Holmes Jr., was arrested shortly after the incident, but was bonded out of jail Wednesday on a $100,000 bail. According to The Caller Times, Holmes was back in jail Thursday night after he allegedly violated the conditions of his release. He is now being held without bail.

“If we could change the circumstances we would rather have our baby,” Lawson said. “But we just keep saying that we’re doing all of this for her.”

Pasta Company in Corpus Christi is located at 5630 Saratoga Blvd and at 128 S. Staples St. in Carmel Village.