On their way to prom, two students killed in car crash, Indiana school district says

A community in Indiana is mourning after two students were killed in a crash on their way to prom Saturday night, the school district said.

The crash was reported around 5:15 p.m. in Hamilton County, WTHR reported. Four teens were in a Honda Accord headed to prom in Kokomo when the car was T-boned by an SUV, according to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office. The vehicles ended up in a field.

Lendon Bryam, the driver of the Honda, and Kalen Hart, who was in the front passenger seat, were both killed, deputy Ryan McClain told WRTV.

Two other students in the car were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, according to the outlet.

The driver of the other vehicle wasn’t injured, police told WRTV, and officials don’t believe drugs or alcohol factored into the crash.

Derek Arrowood, superintendent of the Hamilton Heights School Corporation, posted a statement to Facebook Saturday evening explaining what had happened, adding that all prom activities had been canceled.

“No one expects something like this to happen, and when it does, it leaves an entire community grieving,” Arrowood said, according to WXIN. “Please keep these families and our students in your thoughts and prayers.”

Grief counselors and members of the school’s faith-based community were available to meet with students at the Elite Banquet Center — where prom was to be held — and the Hamilton Heights High School Media Center Saturday night.

“In a school this size, everybody’s impacted and in a community this tight knit, everybody’s impacted,” Arrowood told WXIN.

Lendon Bryam was a student at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis, set to graduate in 2022, the school posted to Twitter.

Cathedral officials invited the community to the football field Sunday afternoon to “gather, grief and pray.”

Jacob Cook said he witnessed the crash along with 50 other family members who’d gathered at a home in Arcadia to celebrate the life of a loved one who’d recently died, WTHR reported. He ran to help.

“You know when I came around …one of the vehicles, the driver was already out. So, I went immediately to the other vehicle and came around and knew it was serious,” Cook told the outlet.

He then called 911.

“As a dad, as a member of the community, as someone who loves where they’re from … something like this, all that matters is just those families … you know, the parents and just losing life way too young,” Cook said, according to WTHR.

The crash is under investigation, WRTV reported. Police have not released the names of the people who were injured.

Hamilton County is just north of Indianapolis.