Editor’s note: This story has been updated. The latest developments appear at the bottom.
BOCA RATON, FL (Boca Post) (Copyright © 2025) — A Margate man was killed Monday evening after a Brightline train struck his pickup truck in Boca Raton, according to police.
Boca Raton Police said officers were called around 5:30 p.m. to a report of a collision between a train and a vehicle at 1 SW 18th Street. The crash involved a northbound Brightline train and a Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck.
Investigators said the Chevrolet Colorado was traveling eastbound on SW 18th Street when it stopped on the railroad tracks. A Brightline train heading north then struck the passenger side of the vehicle. The impact caused the truck to roll several times before coming to rest in the embankment between the railroad tracks and South Dixie Highway, police said.
The driver, identified by police as Alexis Natanael Villatoro Gaspar, 30, of Margate, was transported from the scene to a local hospital. He later died from his injuries. Police said he was the sole occupant of the vehicle at the time of the crash.
No other injuries were reported.
The collision shut down activity in the area as officers secured the scene and began a traffic homicide investigation. Police did not release information about whether the train’s horn was sounded, whether warning gates were activated, or how long the vehicle had been stopped on the tracks. The investigation remains ongoing.
Brightline operates passenger rail service through Boca Raton along the Florida East Coast Railway corridor, which runs parallel to South Dixie Highway. The crossing at SW 18th Street is one of several at-grade intersections in the area.
Boca Raton Police said anyone with information related to the crash is asked to contact Traffic Homicide Investigator Crawford at 561-620-6227.
The case is being investigated under Boca Raton Police Department case number 2025-013510, according to the department’s public information release issued Tuesday morning.
Police have not released additional details and said further updates will be provided if available.
Read our continuing coverage of Boca Raton car accidents, including serious injury and fatal crashes.
UPDATE - January 8, 2026 — 7:00 AM EST:
The driver of the pickup truck has been identified as 30-year-old Alex Villatoro of Margate.
Villatoro's family has started a GoFundMe to help with final arrangements, including repatriating his body to his home country where his wife and daughter are.
"His family and friends continue waiting for a resolution since this has been a very slow process due to the distance, as he was a married young man and the father of an 8-year-old little girl, who were left alone and unprotected, with great pain and sadness in their hearts." (GoFundMe)
