WAYNE COUNTY, Ohio (WOIO) – A 14-year-old middle schooler is dead after a car accident involving four other middle and high schoolers Friday evening.
According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, the crash happened just before 4:15 p.m. on Canaan Center Road near E. Sterling Road in Canaan Township.
A 17-year-old was driving north when they lost control of the car and went off the side of the road, according to OSHP.
OSHP said the car hit a ditch and two landscape islands before it rolled over several times.
14-year-old Aurora Krahenbuhl of Creston died in the accident.
The driver, a 13-year-old, and a 14-year-old were all taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
A 15-year-old passenger was also taken to the hospital with serious injuries, according to OSHP.
Superintendent Kevin Leatherman released the following statement Friday evening.
Superintendent Leatherman said all five victims in the crash were Norwayne Local Schools middle and high school students.
Superintendent Leatherman canceled the high school homecoming football game Friday night due to the crash.
Creston Community Church opened their doors to the public Friday night as soon as they heard about the tragedy.
“It’s devastating,” said Josh Chaffin Pastor of Creston Community Church. “We don’t have a lot of tragedies here. Small close-knit town, family vibe but when tragedies like this happen of course we do what families do, they come together so as soon as we heard about this some ladies at our church asked me if they could come and unlock the building and just open it up for anyone that would want to come and gather and just support one another and pray so that’s what we’ve been doing for the last couple of hours now.”
The Pastor said their doors will stay open as long as the community needs them.
“Tonight was the homecoming game and I know that some of the students had already arrived when the news broke and they made an announcement and my understanding is I wasn’t there, but my understanding is that quite a few people that were there gathered on the football stadium, on the field, did a big prayer circle.”
He encouraged those grieving to come into the church and pray.
“I would just say as a man of faith it’s important to remember that in the high times of life in the mountain tops, God is there but he’s also there in the valleys and I think oftentimes when we go through life’s deepest struggles that’s actually when we experience God the most. So my encouragement to people would be that in the midst of your suffering, in the midst of this difficult time to lean into God and he’s there for us.”
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