A Chicago dance company is mourning the lives of two talented dancers killed in a rollover crash in the early morning hours of February 19, 2026. Dancer Isaiah “Bo” Flemister, 17, and Empiire Dance Institute Director Lazarus “Hollywood” Gonzalez, 25, lost their lives, and the crash left two others seriously injured. While the cause of the crash remains under investigation, the heartache has set in.
WLS reported that the fatal crash occurred on the Bishop Ford Freeway around 1:15 a.m. Angela Hongo, Flemister’s mother, told the news outlet she’d been tracking his location and knew something terrible happened when he suddenly stopped moving. As any concerned mom would, she began calling and texting him, but the teen never responded.
“And then his coach called me and said Angie, I don’t know how to tell you what just happened. I’m like, ‘OK what happened?'” Hongo said.
Dwayne Moore, co-CEO of Empiire Dance Institute, told WLS he thinks the car hit a pothole and flipped. “They were ejected out of the back window and three ejected out the front window, that’s catastrophe,” he explained.
He added that both victims played very important roles at Empiire.
“Great kids, great youth, dancers in the city of Chicago elite champions, elite championship dancers,” he shared. “Hollywood is the director of the number one dance team in the city of Chicago a household rapper. Isaiah (Bo) is a top three champion dancer. These kids are out of the way, they’re doing something positive and it’s just unfortunate. They were out having fun and this happened. I’m sick.”
The dance troop are proud eight-time champions of the Bud Billiken Parade. They’d practiced together hours before the deadly crash.
Bo attended Art in Motion, a creative arts high school, NBC Chicago reported. “His presence will be deeply missed by classmates, teachers, and all of our staff who had the privilege of knowing and working with him,” Principal Dion Steele noted in a statement shared with the outlet.
Latisha Waters, co-CEO of Empiire Dance Institute, shared her heartache in a Facebook post. “Knowing you will never see them walk through your practice doors , or your home, knowing you can’t call your director or your director calling you anymore hurt so damnnnnnnn bad,” she wrote.
“I can’t even focus for my kids , my dance kids , family , my heart is heavy & im trying to process all of this but it’s just not registering..!” she added in her post. “I never question things , but I’m questioning this , bcus why…whyyyyyyyyyyyyyy do this to us …. To give it to me like this is crazy work.”
Thankfully, this strong dance family can lean on each other during this devastating time.
