Paul Walker's death rocked Hollywood to its core — but what were his chilling last known
words? And what else do we know about his final moments? Keep watching to find out.
When Hollywood actor Paul Walker died in 2013 at the age of 40,
his career was still very much on the rise. Most famously,
he starred along with Vin Diesel in the first six installments of the Fast & Furious franchise.
Set in a criminal underworld full of espionage and intrigue, the Fast & Furious movies are
largely concerned with street racing — an eerie coincidence, given the manner in which Walker
was killed: as a passenger in a catastrophic Southern California car accident. Walker was
reportedly traveling in excess of 100 mph in the passenger seat of a 2005 Porsche Carrera GT.
"This was… this was unlike anything we could have imagined."
Walker's death came as such a shock due in large part to his starring role in one of
the most successful franchises of all time. The manner in which he died also places him among a
number of other well-known movie stars killed in car wrecks, including James Dean, Grace Kelly,
and Jayne Mansfield. Most notably, though, the tragic accident in which Walker was killed
echoes the nature of his most well-known role. And nowhere is this more apparent than his
final known words, revealed by a friend who overheard the star just prior to his death.
Just before he was killed, Walker had decided to join his friend
Roger Rodas in a test drive of the high-end vehicle after attending a charity event at
which the car had been displayed. It was Rodas who was driving the Porsche Carrera GT
at the time that Paul Walker's fatal accident happened. Rodas, who also died in the crash,
was the owner of the racing shop Always Evolving, in which Walker held a stake.
The accident took place in Santa Clarita, California, near Hollywood.
As a fan of car racing and fancy vehicles, Walker was reportedly excited to experience
a Porsche Carrera GT test drive for himself. The Carrera GT can reach top speeds of 208 mph,
accelerating from 0 to 60 miles per hour in less than four seconds.
Footage from a nearby security camera later revealed that the Porsche hit a
pole and then a tree before it burst into flames. No drugs or alcohol were involved,
and Walker died from a combination of impact and fire, based on the coroner's report. In the wreck,
Walker reportedly broke his jaw, collarbone, and left arm, among other injuries. With soot in his
trachea, it's believed that Walker survived the wreck, though badly injured. He reportedly
died in the ensuing blaze. Walker's body was so badly burned it was otherwise unrecognizable.
Walker was in the middle of filming for the seventh Fast & Furious film when he died.
After his death, production was shut down, and proceeds from the sixth installment were
then donated by the production company to Paul Walker's charity, Reach Out Worldwide. The charity
had been founded by Walker in the aftermath of the disastrous 2010 earthquake in Haiti.
Another close friend of the star, Jim Torp, had attended the same
charity event shortly before Walker's death. After he witnessed the accident,
Torp tried to pull Walker from the wreckage, but was unable to do so because of the flames.
And it's Torp who heard Walker's final words, beyond what he may have said to Roger Rodas.
He later revealed to reporters that, the last time Torp spoke with Walker, the star had said:
"Hey, let's go for a drive."
"Paul wanted to go for a ride. He wanted to go for a ride in the car,
so they went for a ride, and that was the last that we saw of them."
Praising his friend in the aftermath of his death, Torp continued:
"[Walker] lived his life and he died fast and furious. He loved speed, he loved cars,
and he had to die this way. He died in a very fast car with his friend."
In the meantime, Fast & Furious co-star and friend, actor Vin Diesel,
shared his thoughts on Instagram. He wrote:
"My children always tell me that uncle Paul is with you dad,
always ... and I know in my heart that they are right. Miss you Pablo."