The Higdon community in Jackson County, Ala., is reeling this week after a 14-year-old student at North Sand Mountain School was struck and killed Tuesday by a vehicle driven by another teen.
The boy, whose name officials have not released, was on foot when he was hit by a car driven by a 16-year-old classmate as students were heading home from school Tuesday afternoon. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The school’s principal, Dustin Roden, said counselors, administrative staff, teachers and students talked with and comforted each other Wednesday as the community came to grips with the tragedy.
“We’re talking to them and letting them talk among themselves,” Roden said Wednesday. “It’s a sad time.”
The victim was “smart, intelligent. In the past year, we had a great relationship,” Roden said. “He would come talk to me and I’d go talk to him. He was great.”