’16 and Pregnant’ alum Sean Garinger dead at 20 after ATV accident

Sean Garinger, who starred in MTV’s “16 and Pregnant,” died Wednesday in his hometown of Boone, North Carolina, after a freak accident involving an ATV. He was 20.

“I was with him when it happened,” Garinger’s mother, Mary Hobbs, told the US Sun. “He was just moving [the ATV] from one parking spot to the next for me, so I could back into park.”

“He pulled [in] front of me to park the ATV and the ground gave way from all the rain and mud,” she said, adding that the ATV then flipped over and “crushed” her son’s skull.

“I ran to neighbors trying to get someone to help me get the ATV off of him. No one answered. I ran back to him,” the grieving mother continued. “By that time, I realized he wasn’t alive anymore.”

According to Hobbs, 40, she just “laid next to him until the ambulance showed up.”

“There was a huge part of my heart that died with my son on Wednesday,” she continued. “He was my only son, my rock, my strength when I had none left.”

Just prior to the accident, the pair had been looking to buy a car for Garinger so he could visit his two daughters, whom he shares with ex-girlfriend Selena Gutierrez, in Colorado.

“Sean brightened my world in a way no one else could ever come close to. He was my baby boy, my squishy, my heartbeat,” Hobbs continued. “We loved spontaneously jumping in the car for a road trip or a beach sesh.”

“We bonded over music, fast cars and shooting guns and taking new adventures,” she added.

According to local reports, the Watauga County Sheriff’s Office (WCSO), Boone Fire Department and Watauga Medics all responded to the 911 call.

“Our hearts are heavy with sorrow for the loss experienced by the family and loved ones of the victim,” the WCSO said in a statement to the Watauga Democrat Friday.

The Post reached out to WCSO for additional comment.

Viewers of the hit MTV show were first introduced to the father of two in the show’s sixth season, which aired in 2021.

In the show, Gutierrez’s family famously despised Garinger, which only seemed to intensify when Gutierrez, 20, claimed that Garinger had cheated on her while she was pregnant with their first child, Dareli, in 2020.

Despite the hostility, Gutierrez gave birth to the pair’s second child, Esmi, in June 2022.

Gutierrez has yet to officially comment on Garinger’s death, though a family insider told The Sun that the mother of two is “not in a good place.”

“Sean visited Selena’s family literally a week before his death because he came to Colorado to visit his daughters,” a family insider told the outlet, adding that the couple officially split in 2023 and had been dating other people.

“Sean got close to Selena’s family these past few months – his mom and Selena’s mom, and Sean and Selena’s brother Ricky,” the source continued, claiming that Garinger had been “doing well” and was pursuing a career in welding.

Aside from his daughters and mother, Garinger is survived by sisters Shania, Lydia, Isabella, Ember, Kayden and Casslyn.

A service to honor his life will be held on March 2.