Communities around the state are dealing with a tragedy that took place on Monday night near Gretna. Nebraska basketball commit Donovan Williams was so affected by the event that he took to Twitter on Wednesday morning to announce he will be dedicating the upcoming season to the memory of the victims as a way of showing support to their family and friends.
The dedication is just the latest bit of support coming in from around the area as more information becomes known about a deadly crash Monday night that took the lives of four teenage girls and left one in the Hospital.
The crash took place late Monday night near the intersection of 180th and Platteview Road.
Fiery crash
Authorities say they got a report of some kind of accident around 11:30 PM on Monday and closed off part of the road in order to investigate. According to a press release on Tuesday, deputies arrived at the scene and encountered the car the teens had been travelling in fully engulfed in flames. They believe the vehicle went off the road and hit the end of a guardrail, finally ending up in a ravine.
Springfield firefighters were among the first to arrive and started trying to put the fire out. "We were towing out for a weed fire," Fire chief Chad Zimmerman told the media.
"We were about a mile and a half or two miles away from the scene and they announced it was a car fire with parties possibly pinned."
Once the fire was finally out, first responders realized there were four bodies in the car. The lone girl who survived the crash was sent to the hospital with burns, but reports are she's expected to physically recover. All of the victims of the crash were said to be 15 or 16-years old and their names have not been made public.
Responding to calls for support
On Tuesday night, a Twitter account that is dedicated to high school volleyball in the state sent out a tweet asking for everyone to ask for prayers for the community.
The thread quickly filled up with people from all over the state and the Twitterverse expressing their heartbreak and sympathies for the families affected.
That is when the Nebraska basketball commit decided to make sure people knew that despite not being from the area, he was certainly touched by what was going on and saddened by the accident.
He's one of just several people who is doing whatever they can to bring a light to the tragedy that happened in Gretna Monday night. "This season I’m dedicating to you guys out of love #GretnaStrong" was the tweet he sent out earlier in the week. It's a safe bet more information will be coming in the next few days about just what happened that caused the accident in the first place. It's an equally safe bet that more love and support will be pouring into the families of the young girls who passed away.