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"Do not race," was the warning in broken English from the mother of the Rockville teen killed in a crash last week to friends gathered for a vigil three days later.

Police have not determined whether speeding or racing were factors in the Feb. 1 single-car crash that split the vehicle in two, but friends say Thiago Andrade loved racing cars.

A friend's posting on a memorial Facebook page for Andrade indicates she worried that he would one day die in a speeding-related crash.

Witnesses of the Veirs Mill Road crash have said the Toyota Camry he was riding in was traveling fast when it hit a curb. From there, it hit a tree, flew down an embankment and came to rest in a nearby parking lot, county police said.

Ana Garmendez, mother of Johvanny Alonso Garmendez, 17, who was driving the car, could not be reached for comment this week. Last week, she said her son was released from the hospital the next day and recovering.

Officer Steven Pascali, a county police spokesman, said investigations take at least 12 weeks to complete and that no new information on the cause of the crash would be released until then.

A Facebook group titled "R.I.P. Thiago Andrade" had 600 members Tuesday afternoon and contained written comments that Andrade loved cars.

"I remember I always told you not to race because I was scared one day I'd get a phone call saying that you died in a speeding related accident … yet I did," a Rockville High School student wrote on the page Feb. 3.

A comment from another member posted Feb. 2 said he had met Andrade at a pizza restaurant "with all the car crews."

He ended by saying, "Rest in peace and race in the sky."

Close to 100 mourners gathered for the Feb. 4 vigil in front of Rockville High School.

With her face illuminated by candlelight, 18-year-old Juliany Martins said her stepbrother was one of the most wonderful people she has ever known.

"He's the biggest angel in this whole entire world and we miss him very much," the Albert Einstein High School senior told the crowd. "But we have to look at this on the bright side. God has a plan for everyone in this world and his plan for Thiago was to take him up to heaven at a young age to teach us all a lesson so that we may know that life is short and life is fragile."

Through poetry, song and tears, friends and family joined together to remember the Rockville junior who died in the crash.

"I know that words cannot describe what we are feeling right now, how we feel about not having him around us anymore," Frank Andrade, Thiago's father, said through his tears.

Gripping the podium that he been set up in front of the school, he said he wanted to let everyone know what an amazing person his son was and described him as gentle, sweet, amazing and always happy.

Hysterical with grief, Thiago's mother, Marcilene Figueiredo of Danbury, Conn., warned teenagers that they should be careful while driving.

Figueiredo said she cannot imagine life without her son.

"He is part of my life," she said. "I don't know what I'm going to do now."

As she spoke, Frank Andrade raised his eyes towards the sky and called out to his son.

"We love you, we're proud of you," he said.

Students and staff at the school remembered the teenager for his smile and friendly personality.

Olga Shapiro, who teaches a college preparation program in which Andrade was enrolled, read an essay he wrote in September. In it, he said he wanted to make his family proud of him.

"I'm going to be the first one in all of my family to graduate high school and go to college," he wrote.

Andrade added that he was born in Brazil and came from a loving family and that his goal was to become a police officer.

"I've always wanted to be a cop," he wrote. "Since my dad was in the Brazilian military I've found it to be very interesting."

The crash occurred around 12:30 p.m. as the vehicle was traveling east on Veirs Mill Road. It struck the right-hand curb and ran off the road as it neared Robindale Drive, county police said.

Andrade, who lived in the 13000 block of Congress Drive in Aspen Hill with his father, was thrown from the 2003 Camry after it hit a tree, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Garmendez, of the 2800 block of Parker Avenue in Wheaton, was taken to Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, police said.

Officials at Albert Einstein High School would not say this week if Garmendez had returned to school. He is a senior.

Martins said Andrade and Garmendez were on their way to play basketball when the crash occurred.

Both teenagers were wearing seat belts and no citations have been issued, Pascali said.

Police ask witnesses and others with information about the crash to call 301-840-2435. Callers may remain anonymous.

Staff Writers Jen Beasley and Andrew Ujifusa contributed to this report.

Rockville High School has set up the Thiago Andrade Memorial Fund to benefit Andrade's family. Checks may be made out to Rockville High School and mailed to 2100 Baltimore Road, Rockville, MD 20851.