2 North Carolina high school students killed in afterschool crash

LAWNDALE, N.C. ( QUEEN CITY NEWS ) — A Cleveland County family is mourning the loss of two teenagers killed in a crash outside Burns High School.

Dequavious Hopper, 17, and Jaelyn Abraham, 14, died Wednesday afternoon as they were leaving the school heading home. A 16-year-old Burns student is in critical condition but is expected to be okay.

Whether community members knew the students or not, they said this is a loss that affects everyone in the town.

“It’s everybody’s pain and everybody’s sadness because in Lawndale everybody knows each other and we are family,” said Bernice Henderson, who lives in the area.

Messages of support for the family are already going up around Lawndale, including one on a nearby church’s sign, reading “Pray for the families of Burns High School.”

“It’s our kids,” said Henderson. “I don’t have kids in the school but as part of the community, it’s really, really sad.”

Henderson was one of several people who walked up to this scene Wednesday afternoon on East Stage Coach Trail to find a heavy law enforcement presence, debris from the wreckage and a car completely crushed from the impact.

“It is uncomfortable to drive here during school time but I never thought something like this would happen,” she said.

Highway Patrol troopers told Queen City News Hopper was leaving school just after 3 p.m. in a car with two of his family members inside. He tried to turn left on a nearby street and collided head-on with a white truck, carrying a father and two of his kids. They weren’t hurt, but Hopper and Abraham, who was in the back seat, died. First responders rushed a 16-year-old front-seat passenger, Xzavier Lamont Sanders, to the hospital.

“In 24 years, I’ve responded to a lot of them and it’s never easy,” said Sgt. Brian Theis with the State Highway Patrol. “Never easy. And it doesn’t get any easier.”

Throughout the evening, people came to look at the remnants of the car, including the grandmother of the teens involved. She was too emotional to talk on camera but said they were good boys and their family needs prayers right now.

“Our hearts are with them and our prayers and all the support of the community,” said Henderson.

Counselors will be at the school on Thursday to give the students some extra love and support as they grieve these losses.

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