Courtesy Bill Sparkes TRAGEDY—Sheriff's department deputies investigate the train tracks at Emma Woods State Beach where Amanda Shoemaker, 17, of Simi Valley was struck by a train around 5 p.m. on Tues., April 28. Shoemaker was coming from the beach with two friends when she was hit. A 17-year-old Simi Valley girl was killed Tuesday when she was hit by a train while walking on the railroad tracks in the Rincon area of Ventura, officials said.

On April 28 at approximately 5 p.m., Ventura County Sheriff's deputies responded to a 911 call of a pedestrian struck by an Amtrak train in the area of Pacific Coast Highway and Emma Wood State Beach.

According to Sheriff's spokesman Capt. Ross Bonfiglio, Amanda Shoemaker was with her boyfriend, a 17-year-old Ventura resident, and 18-year-old Cameron Scott Clark, also of Ventura. The three friends had been visiting the beach and at one point Shoemaker was filming the two males surfing, he said.

Afterward, Shoemaker and her boyfriend decided to walk on the railroad tracks to look at the graffiti on the walls, Bonfiglio said. Clark was walking about 150 feet behind the couple, putting on his shoes, when he heard the horn of the train.

"He begins yelling at them, trying to get them off the tracks, and then he begins running toward them," Bonfiglio said. "The boyfriend was about 10 feet ahead of Shoemaker, which may have been a factor in why he was able to jump off at the last moment, or close to the last moment, and she didn't."

The train was going northbound and Shoemaker and her boyfriend had their backs to the train, Bonfiglio said. A preliminary investigation by sheriff's deputies showed that the train was rounding a wide turn and sounded the horn to alert the individuals as soon as the engineer saw them on the tracks, but Shoemaker was unable to get out of the way in time.

The train struck Shoemaker just south of the PCH overpass and her body was thrown an estimated 175 feet. Clark attempted to give first aid but it is believed Shoemaker died on impact, Bonfiglio said.

Though the railroad tracks are easily accessible to pedestrians, it is illegal to walk on the tracks, Bonfiglio said.

He said he wasn't sure why Shoemaker and her boyfriend didn't hear the train coming.

"I don't know if either the bridge, the bend or some other terrain issues makes it harder to hear," he said.

There is no evidence of drugs or alcohol having played a role in the accident.

"It's just believed to be a tragic accident so there's not going to be a follow-up because, from our standpoint, it's not a crime," Bonfiglio said.

Shoemaker, a senior at Simi Valley High School, was active in leadership classes and ran track for three years.

Head Coach Roger Evans said her teammates will miss "her friendship, her personality, her laughter and her support."

"She always had a smile on her face, did her workouts, worked hard . . . was very well-liked on the team and that's what made it very difficult," Evans said Wednesday afternoon. "Practice today was very somber."

A gifted student, Shoemaker planned to attend Brigham Young University-Idaho.