ROANOKE, Va. – The death of a Crystal Spring Elementary School student has devastated the Southwest Roanoke community.
Roanoke Police said the boy, who is under 10 years old, was hit and killed by a car around 5:30 p.m. Thursday. Investigators said the driver was traveling south along Avenham Avenue SW, when the boy entered the road and was hit by the car.
He was taken to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital with critical injuries, but didn’t make it.
“Oh, it’s terrible. It’s terrible,” said Jerry Mills, who lives along Avenham right near the scene of the accident.
She said she saw the police presence and went to find out what happened when she ran into the boy’s father.
“The boy was still in the street. And he said, ‘Oh, that’s my boy. My 9-year-old boy,’” said Mills. “All I saw was them getting the boy onto the stretcher to put him in the ambulance. And the mother was ballistic, rightly so.”
Police said the driver stayed at the scene and is cooperating. Investigators said the driver was not speeding or impaired and no arrests have been made.
Mills said Avenham is a busy thoroughfare and hopes the city makes a change.
“We were waiting for something bad to happen,” said Mills.
The school had additional counselors available on Friday. Next week is spring break so students will not be in class. However, there are still counseling and grief resources available for families. You can find a list of those resources here.