‘Loved Beyond Words’: Funeral Services Set For Child Killed In Crash At NJ Farm Brewery

UPPER FREEHOLD, NJ — The local community is rallying around a New Jersey family after their son was fatally struck by an SUV at a farm brewery on Saturday.

James Gabriel, 2, has been identified as the toddler who was killed when he and his grandmother, Ellen Gabriel, 66, of Roselle Park, were walking through the parking lot at Emleys Hill Road on Saturday morning.

As the pair was walking through the parking lot, they were struck by a Chrysler SUV that was backing out of a parking space, NJ State Police said.

Ellen Gabriel suffered serious injuries and was taken to a hospital for treatment while James suffered fatal injuries. No other injuries were reported on scene.

Since James' passing, an online fundraiser has been started to support the Gabriel family.

Donations will help support James’s funeral and memorial expenses, time away from work so the family can grieve and be together, legal expenses associated with the crash, and other unexpected financial burdens.

Any remaining funds will help the Gabriels find "a meaningful way to honor James and keep his memory alive."

The fundraiser has a goal of $45,000. As of Friday afternoon, $17,319 has been raised.

"If you are able to donate, we are deeply grateful," the family said. "If you are unable to contribute, please consider sharing James’s story and keeping our family in your thoughts. But more than anything, please remember our James."

"Please don’t remember him only as the little boy whose life ended in a tragic accident. Remember his little footsteps, his laughter, his curiosity, his energy, and the happiness he brought into our lives. James was here. He mattered. He was loved beyond words. And he will always be our son."

In his obituary, family described James as someone who brought “immeasurable joy, laughter, and love into the lives of his family from the moment he entered the world.”

He loved “the things that made a little boy's world magical,” the obituary says, ranging from Bluey to his toy cars and trucks and “the ordinary things that adults might pass by without noticing.”

“Through his eyes, we learned to stop, look, and share in that excitement with him,” his family wrote. James was “truly the light of our world.”

• Read: 'The Light Of Our World': Child Killed In Crash At NJ Farm Brewery Remembered

Visitation for James is set to be held at the Clayton & McGirr Funeral Home in Freehold Township on Friday from 4-8 p.m.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend his 10 a.m. Funeral Mass on Saturday at St. Gabriel’s Church in Marlboro. Interment will follow in St. Gabriel’s Cemetery & Chapel Mausoleum.

Memorial contributions can be made to St. Gabriel's Cemetery & Chapel Mausoleum to place a bench at the cemetery in James' memory.

Previous Coverage

• 'The Light Of Our World': Child Killed In Crash At NJ Farm Brewery Remembered
• Child Killed, Woman Injured In Crash At Farm Brewery In Monmouth County