SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — The three victims killed Tuesday when a car slid under and 18-wheeler were teenagers in a stolen car, sheriff’s spokesman Earle Farrell said Wednesday.
The victims’ identities have not been released, but Farrell said two of them were 17 and one was 16.
The maroon Kia they were in ran a red light and drove under a moving 18-wheeler at Holmes and Crumpler. The wreck peeled off the top of the car as it was dragged underneath the trailer.
Authorities told WREG the car had been stolen the night before from Kirby Meadows Drive in Memphis. They said there were two guns found in the vehicle, one of which was stolen.
Sheamus Cox says he knew one of the teens, because he had mentored him with Heal the Hood.
“I knew when I first met him he was a good kid,” Cox said. “When you mentor a child you become attached. That person becomes your child. Your family member.”
Cox said the 17-year-old used to attend Wooddale High School in Parkway Village. He sad the teen moved to Mississippi recently and enrolled in the ROTC. He had plans to join the military after graduation and seemed to be on the right track.
“You could tell he was raised properly. Just like any teen, just hanging with wrong kind of guys. Being around wrong influences,” Cox said.
Cox said he broke down when he heard the news.
“It hurts the most when you know they are smarter than what they act. He made a bad choice that day,” he said.
WREG is working to learn more about the other teens in the car.
We are not releasing the juveniles’ names until we know their families have been notified.