TULSA, Okla — Community members banded together to organize a vigil for four Oklahomans who lost their lives in a Kansas car crash.
Local News
Kansas report details crash that killed Green Country basketball players, coach
Jaimon Gilstrap, Kyrin Schumpert, Donald Lester and Wayne Walls of Oklahoma all lost their lives.
Four others from outside of Oklahoma also died in the crash.
Ray Mahone is a basketball coach with Union Freshman Academy.
He said he had known 14-year-old Kyrin since he was in just first grade, and became close with him through basketball.
Coach Mahone also said he recently became close with Kyrin’s father, who also lost his life in the crash.
“It definitely hurts because it's just definitely so unexpected," he said. "As a person, he was so humble, he was so polite, respectful. Never got involved in any activities in school in terms of disrespect with teachers or coaches or anything like that. He was he spoke to everybody, no matter, even if you were a stranger.”
Through all of his interactions with him, Mahone said he became like a son to him and a brother to his own son.
Many of Kyrin’s teammates also came to the vigil, saying being surrounded by loved ones makes getting through the grief just a bit more bearable.
“It’s kind of helping with closure for the most part for me because when I heard about it, even now it’s still hard to believe," said Noah Bowman. "Coming to this and seeing all these people who also care about him is just good and nice.”
Xaiden Mahone said he's still in shock about the accident.
“I’d seen everyone else posting it, but I texted him and I didn’t ever get a response, so then I knew something was wrong," he said. “I think it's important for people to band together in a situation like this, because I feel like everyone being together will help everyone fight through such pain.
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