‘Breaks my heart’: High schoolers grieve classmates who died in crash

CLEVELAND COUNTY, N.C. — A memorial is growing outside a high school in Cleveland County after tragedy struck their community.

Troopers said on Wednesday, two students were killed and another was seriously hurt in a crash in front of Burns High School.

The victims were all related, investigators said. Investigators said 17-year-old Dequavious Hopper and 14-year-old Jaelyn Abraham were killed in the wreck. The third teen, who was in the front passenger seat, was taken to Atrium Health Cleveland in Shelby and is in critical condition, troopers said.

Investigators said Hopper didn’t yield the right of way and tried to make a left turn in front of a truck, causing the two vehicles to collide in the intersection.

Channel 9′s Ken Lemon spoke to the 17-year-old driver’s family at their home three minutes away from the crash scene. The teens were at the home just before the crash happened.

Hopper’s family held the cap and gown that he would have worn at graduation in June. They stopped at the crash scene Thursday afternoon and cried when they saw the memorial for the victims. Some Burns High students said they left school and created the memorial because they couldn’t stay inside knowing their friends wouldn’t be back.

“Pretty sad,” Connor Williams told Lemon while wiping away tears.

Williams went to school Thursday but only stayed for the first two classes. The grief was overwhelming.

“We just got out because I couldn’t stop crying,” he said.

Williams knew all three students involved in the crash. He told Lemon he grew up next door to Hopper and Abraham.

Williams and other students who knew the teens had to drive by the spot where the crash happened to get to school Thursday morning. For some, that opened fresh wounds before they got to class.

“It’s just sad to know the ones you cared and loved for died right here,” Peyton Williams said.

Others who left class early went to the crash scene with flowers, balloons, and hope that they could put something pleasing near the paint that outlined the tragic crash.

“For us to remember them by,” Zykia Perkins said.

“It breaks my heart for the family and everybody else,” Tayla Tessneer said.

One of the students said she wanted her friend, who is still in the hospital, to see the memorial.

“I hope he knows that we are all praying for him,” Ruth Chavez said.

One student said a teacher put a plant at the desk of one of the two teens who died. A student in that class said every time he looked at that plant, he started crying.

Troopers say there will be no charges in the crash because they don’t believe the other driver was not at fault.

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