‘I can’t let go’: Vigil honors 2 high schoolers killed in Cleveland County crash

CLEVELAND COUNTY, N.C. — A memorial late Wednesday afternoon honored two students who were killed in a crash right outside their Cleveland County high school.

The teens were related and were both students at Burns High School. On Wednesday, the family and others planned to release hundreds of balloons with messages to the teens. They said they could not have survived this much hurt without community support like this.

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Bernardell Ross spoke to Channel 9′s Ken Lemon wearing a charm with pictures of her son, Dequavious Hopper, and grandson, Jaelyn Abraham. They were killed while headed home from Burns High last week when their car collided with a truck in front of the school.

“This helps me because I can’t let go,” Ross said while holding the charm.

She said a tremendous outpouring of love and support has helped her.

Students and parents at West Lincoln High School prayed for Hopper and Abraham Wednesday while wearing Burns’ school colors.

Over the weekend, hundreds of Burns students also attended an unplanned birthday party for Hopper. He would have turned 18 on Wednesday, but they celebrated early.

“Even in the moments when we can’t talk, can’t find the words to say, y’all have been there. Y’all have supported us,” said Britney London, Hopper’s sister.

London saw the hundreds of balloons ready to soar at the vigil. She read some of the notes students wrote to attach to the balloons and release them into the sky. One of the notes was about the drive and it’s one she won’t forget.

“You were going home and you made it home,” she read.

Home, she said, in heaven.

The family of X’zavier Sanders, the 16-year-old in the car with them, said he got released from the hospital on Wednesday.

“Zae was in the front seat,” Ross said. “It was hit on Zae’s side and my baby came out of there.”

Family members said Sanders has head trauma and doesn’t remember the crash. Doctors ordered him to rest so he couldn’t attend the balloon release, but he will attend the memorial service this weekend.

(WATCH BELOW: ‘Breaks my heart’: High schoolers grieve classmates who died in crash)

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

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