Friends of 19-year-old Casey Alan Anzek gather Monday at the site of a car accident that happened early Saturday morning in the 2500 block of Ousdahl Road that killed Anzek and injured four passengers. The tree hit by the car has become a memorial site where those gathered recalled stories about Anzek.

Friends of Casey Alan Anzek gathered Monday afternoon at the site of the deadly weekend car crash that took the 19-year-old’s life.

The former Lawrence High School student died and his four passengers were injured when the car he was driving slammed into a tree at about 2:10 a.m. Saturday in the 2500 block of Ousdahl Road. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

“Casey was a fun guy,” said Kim Hatch, Anzek’s friend. “He was fun to be around and he’d do anything for anybody.”

Empty liquor bottles, confederate flag symbols and cigarette packs littered the flowers and teddy bears that covered the base of the tree, which Anzek’s friends turned into a memorial.

Anzek was heading south on Ousdahl Road in a 1984 Chevrolet when it went off the east side of the road and hit the tree, which sits in front of a home at 25th Street Court.

Police said speed, alcohol and a wet street could be to blame for the accident.

Anzek was at a nearby grocery store just before the accident, said Michael Witt, his older brother.

“They were out goofing off and headed to someone’s house,” Witt said.

The single-vehicle crash injured four passengers, all from Lawrence, who were extricated by a passer-by. The passengers were identified Monday afternoon as 17-year-old Jasmine Garland, 20-year-old Anthony Munger, 16-year-old Cora Garland and 16-year-old Lauren Myers.

Jasmine Garland was listed in serious condition Monday night at Kansas University Hospital, Kansas City, Kan. Cora Garland was treated at Lawrence Memorial Hospital and transferred to another hospital, an LMH spokeswoman said. No other patient conditions were made available Monday.

Cora Garland is a sophomore at LHS, and Jasmine Garland is a former student of the school, where staff members were made available Monday to students and teachers needing help coping, said Steve Nilhas, LHS principal and Anzek’s former English teacher.

Nilhas said he remembered Anzek as an energetic, happy and hard-working person.

“He was a likable kid and I’m certainly very, very sad and very, very heartbroken to see that this happened to him,” Nilhas said.

Anzek’s funeral will be held at 2 p.m. Friday at Rumsey-Yost Funeral Home, 601 Ind., Witt said.

“He was a hell of a kid, and it’s hard to explain to someone who didn’t know him what kind of big heart he had,” Witt said.