Shawnee — Grief counselors were on hand Friday at Hocker Grove Middle School as students tried to deal with the loss of three eighth-graders killed in a traffic accident Thursday.
"The students are devastated. They are well aware that we have all suffered a great loss," said Gillian Williams, principal at Hocker Grove, which has about 600 students in suburban Kansas City. "We're having classes, but the teachers and counselors are just letting the kids talk about whatever is on their minds."
"I'd say there's been a lot of crying, yes, and we've had extra deliveries of Kleenex," Williams said.
Joshua L. Thurman, 14, of Shawnee; Matthew R. Cadwell, 14, of Shawnee; and Kevin L. Kranker 14, of Merriam, died Thursday evening when the car they were in collided with another car on Johnson Drive in front of their school.
A fourth boy, 16-year-old David Thurman, brother of Joshua Thurman and a sophomore at Shawnee Mission North High School, was in critical condition Friday at a Kansas City hospital.
The driver of the oncoming vehicle was treated for minor injures at an area hospital, police said.
The accident was under investigation Friday, but no charges had been filed, said Lannie Ornburn, assistant Johnson County district attorney. There were earlier reports that the victims' car had been drag racing with a black car at the time of the accident, but police said Friday that had not been confirmed.
Police also said the driver of the black car came into the police station Thursday night, but that no charges had been filed.
"The Shawnee Police Department and different agencies are working hard in trying to determine what happened," Ornburn said.
Witnesses told police that two cars were speeding east on the four-lane street when the Acura collided with a westbound 1995 four-door Eagle.
Police did not know whether the black car struck either of the other cars.
Steve Pearson, who lives near Hocker Grove, complained about speeding along that part of Johnson Drive along the Shawnee and Merriam border, where the posted speed limit is 35 mph.
"They go up and down the street like it's a highway," Pearson said. "They're screaming up and down this street, and at least on the Merriam side, where I live, they never have any speed control."
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.