CHULA VISTA – A Chula Vista High School soccer player died early yester-day of a sudden illness. Karla Martinez, 14, was a sophomore.
It was the second death of a Chula Vista teenager this week. On Monday, Bianca Elizabeth Moore, 13, collapsed in class at Chula Vista Middle School and died later that day.
The two deaths are not related.
Karla, a varsity soccer player, had played well in a soccer match this week for the school's club team, Principal George Ohnesorgen said. Club play is off-season competition.
Karla had missed school Thursday due to illness, Sweetwater Union High School District spokeswoman Lillian Leopold said.
A news release from the Chula Vista Fire Department said paramedics responded to a call at 2 a.m. yesterday regarding a 14-year-old who was unconscious and not breathing.
She was taken to Scripps Mercy Hospital Chula Vista, where she was pronounced dead at 3 a.m. The County Medical Examiner's Office has not yet announced a cause of death. Ohnesorgen said a school district doctor who had seen a preliminary autopsy report told him that the death was related to inflammation or infection of the outer lining of the heart.
Ohnesorgen said he visited with Karla's classmates during the day and that soccer players and other students had access to counselors during the school day yesterday.
A visitation is scheduled for Bianca today at 10 a.m. at Most Precious Blood Catholic Church, 1245 Fourth Ave., Chula Vista., followed by a Mass at noon.
It's not clear why Bianca died. An autopsy was inconclusive.
Chris Moran: (619) 498-6637; chris.moran@uniontrib.com
