Devastated family members and friends are mourning the six teen girls killed in a crash with a truck in a small Oklahoma city as they wrestle to course of why the younger girls had been “taken” too quickly.
The teenagers — recognized by friends and household as Gracie Machado, Brooklyn Triplett, Austin Holt, Madison Robertson, Addison Gratz and Memory Wilson — had been packed right into a four-seat 2015 Chevrolet Spark when the subcompact automotive collided Tuesday with a semi-truck in Tishomingo.
“I can’t even begin to express the heartbreak I know many families are feeling right now,” Madison’s aunt, Falesha Roberts, wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.
Roberts shared a number of images of her niece and known as her an “irreplaceable gift from God.”
“I’ll be forever grateful that I got to see your smile, know your kindness, and that I could call you my niece Madison Patience Michelle Robertson! Your beautiful soul remains with us all, while you inherited your wings today!!” she wrote.
Natalie Houston, who stated she was a relative of Austin Holt’s from the close by city of Ada, requested for prayers for the teenager’s youthful sister, Joy.
“She is having a hard time and feels like it’s a joke. I don’t know why these tragic things happen,” she wrote on Facebook.
Houston stated Austin was a “great big sister” and Joy will “never forget her.”
“She was a gorgeous, intelligent young lady taken way [too] soon for reasons unknown to me!” her publish continued.
Sadie Machado, Gracie’s sister, posted a photo of the 2 hugging one another in happier instances together with a damaged coronary heart emoji.
“My best friend,” Sadie wrote in the publish.
An on-line fundraiser arrange by a household buddy to recollect sufferer Brooklyn Triplett had garnered some $1,500 as of Thursday.
“Brooklyn was an amazing kid, she loved her family and friends wholeheartedly,” the fundraiser reads. “She was a loyal friend and one hell of a ball player! She will be missed deeply by our family.”
Brooklyn, an avid softball participant, was additionally a cheerleader with a staff in Davis, based on the fundraiser.
Residents in Tishomingo, in the meantime, had been paying tribute to the girls with a rising memorial on the crash web site, KOKI reported. Their former highschool additionally positioned bouquets with their names on them outdoors its entrance door, the station reported.
The small city of roughly 3,000 can be adorned with many “Tishomingo Strong” indicators and the girls’ funerals have already been paid for after a neighborhood financial institution began a donation drive, KOKI reported.
Country music star Blake Shelton, an Oklahoma native who has a house simply outdoors Tishomingo, stated in an announcement Wednesday he was nonetheless in shock after the “unthinkable” tragedy.
“I personally know the devastation of suddenly losing a loved one in a car accident,” Shelton informed KOKI. “But our community is strong and has come together to support and wrap our arms around the families and friends that are hurting the most. There’s no question it will take a long time to heal from this tragedy. Keep the prayers coming.”
