15-year-old dead in crash that hospitalized Charlotte students days after classmate shot
A 15-year-old girl has died in the crash that hospitalized her and three classmates near their Charlotte high school — the same school 14-year-old Johnnie McClendon attended before he was fatally shot in his home Dec. 3.
Four Garinger High School students — one junior and three sophomores — were in 2010 Mazda 3 that veered, flew and flipped off Shamrock Avenue in east Charlotte at about 9:30 a.m. Thursday, officials said. They were about a half-mile away from Garinger High. Only the driver was wearing a seat belt, police said. All of them were taken to the hospital.
Allisson Manrique Mejia, died at the hospital Sunday, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said Monday. She was a sophomore, school officials confirmed.
“Unfortunately medical intervention was not able to save her life,” wrote Principal LeDuan Pratt in an email to families Monday. “We are heartbroken by this loss of life and we grieve with her family and friends.”
On Thursday, Pratt encouraged the school’s community to rally together.
“This is the second tragic incident our school has suffered in the past week,” he wrote after the crash. “What is most important is that we care for and support each other.”
McClendon was shot and killed in his home near Camp North End and the Lockwood neighborhood on Sunday. Police charged 19-year-old Myhijee Major with involuntary manslaughter after he turned himself in Tuesday, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department wrote in a news release.
McClendon had just made the basketball team, said Will Adams, an activist fighting to end gun violence among local youth with his organization TruBlue. It was McClendon’s first step in trying to follow Kyrie Irving’s famed legacy, Adams said.
Mothers of Murdered Offspring is holding a balloon release in his honor near Garinger’s gym at 3:30 p.m. Friday, the nonprofit posted to its social media.
In Mint Hill Monday, Rocky River high school student Jovanny Escamilla-Salina died in a morning crash about a mile away from his school.
Pratt said the Garinger community’s thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of all the students affected by Thursday’s crash, and counselors will be available to talk to any students in need of counseling.
This story was originally published December 7, 2023 at 4:39 PM.
