Wrong-Way Crash Kills Groom, Cousin Night Before Bergen County Wedding

A weekend that would've been one of the happiest for the families of Kirk Walker and Shauntea Weaver ended in tragedy.

The pair were set to marry on Sunday, Aug. 25 at The Royal Manor in Garfield.

But early Saturday morning, Aug. 24, Walker, 38, and his cousin, Robert "Todd" McLaurin, 40, were killed by a wrong-way driver on the Henry Hudson Parkway in New York City, according to loved ones and the NYPD.

As of Thursday, Sept. 5, more than $31,900 had been raised on a GoFundMe for Weaver, whose Facebook page says she is a nurse who lives in Teaneck.

According to the campaign launched by Weaver, Walker and McLaurin were on their way back from celebrating the upcoming nuptials when the tragedy occurred.

"A mere 10 hours from his rehearsal, family gathered outside New York-Presbyterian to be confronted with the unimaginable - both Kirk and Todd were no longer with us physically and would now join us in spirit... and that the cowards responsible were on the run. In the blink of an eye, everything changed," the campaign reads.

A spokesperson for the NYPD said that Walker and McLauring were heading south in a Dodge Challenger when they were struck by a 2017 Chevrolet Silverado heading north in the southbound lanes around 2:20 a.m.

The Chevrolet then struck an Audi S3, also heading north. Debris from the Chevrolet struck the passenger side of the Toyota Rav4, which was also heading south in the northbound lanes. The 31-year-old driver of the Chevrolet and the 21-year-old male passenger got out of the car just before it erupted in flames.

Walker, of Brooklyn, NY was rushed to New York Columbia Presbyterian Hospital where he was pronounced dead, while McLaurin, of North Carolina, was taken to NYC Health and Hospitals in Harlem where he was pronounced dead.

No arrests had been made as of press time.

According to ABC7 , NYC Mayor Eric Adams called the crash a "Shakespearean tragedy."

Click here to donate to Shauntea Weaver.