Tennis Player Dies After Moving to Escape Fires, Hit by Driver: Authorities

A California high school tennis star who was about to graduate in a month was killed over the weekend by a driver who cops think was drunk.

The Los Angeles Times said that Braun Levi, 18, moved to the Manhattan Beach area after his family lost their home in the Palisades Fire. A 33-year-old woman from Los Angeles hit and killed him around 1 a.m. on Sunday while he was walking down Sepulveda Boulevard with a friend, according to the Manhattan Beach Police Department.

In a press statement Sunday, the MBPD said, “Despite efforts to save their life, the pedestrian succumbed to their injuries and was pronounced deceased at the hospital.” The driver of the car that was involved, 33-year-old Jenia Belt from Los Angeles, was nabbed for murder and felony DUI.

A local NBC station, KNBC, said Levi was making his way up the national tennis rankings as a senior at Los Angeles’s Loyola High School, a private Roman Catholic college prep school. The person was remembered at a prayer vigil on campus on Sunday night as a selfless player and friend who always tried to do the right thing, according to the news source.

A school priest named Father John Quinn is said to have said at the vigil, “Braun planned the Loyola Strong retreat that we had for students whose families lost their homes in the Palisades Fire.” Quinn told Levi, “He himself lost his home in the Palisades Fire.” “We lost someone far too soon. They were so close to graduating and loved this school so much.”

Levi won his fourth straight Mission League doubles title for Loyola with partner Cooper Schwartz just a few days before he died.

According to the school’s Loyola Athletics Instagram page, Levi won his fourth straight doubles title (2022 and 2023 with Darren Ignatius ’24), making it a title sweep. Schwartz won his second in a row with Levi (2024 and 2025), and he has won three titles in total. Yes, congratulations!

The school wrote on Instagram after Levi’s death that he was a team captain and started on the varsity team for four years. The post said that Levi “cemented himself as one of the most accomplished student-athletes in program history.” In the autumn, he planned to go to the University of Virginia.

The school said, “Levi was a true leader on our campus. He was on the Student Council, was a senior Big Brother, led a Kairos retreat, and managed the volleyball team, just to name a few roles he held.” “He was a beloved member of the Loyola community because of his warm personality, contagious smile, and endless energy.” We will miss him very much because he was a real Man for and With Others.