Lives Of 6 Killed In Crash Celebrated

Mourners Fill Charlton County High School Gym To Say Goodbye

THE VICTIMS: LEFT: Brenda MitchellEdwards, 57, of Jacksonville, and Melissa Mitchell, 39, of Lawrenceville,Ga. RIGHT: MiyaMitchell 11, of Lawrenceville, DhanjaMitchell, 16, of Jacksonville, and 4-year-old twins Christian and Keyshawn Perry, ofLawrenceville

FOLKSTON, Ga. – In a place usually reserved for sports celebrations, family and friends gathered for a final goodbye to six relatives killed in a horrific crash in Nassau County on Good Friday.

Six caskets lined the floor of the Charlton County High School gymnasium on Saturday.

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Funeral services were held for Melissa Mitchell, 39, Brenda Edwards Mitchell, 57, Dhanja Mitchell, 16, Miya Mitchell, 12, and 4-year-old twin brothers Keshawn and Christian Pope.

The six members of an extended family were killed in a car crash April 5 on U.S. Highway 1 just outside Hilliard as they were traveling from Georgia to Jacksonville.

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Their car was clipped by a speeding Chevrolet Camaro, sending it into the median, where it was hit by a pickup truck trying to avoid a cloud of dust kicked up by the wreck, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Hundreds gathered not to mourn the dead, but to celebrate their lives.

"I know in my flesh I think it was too soon for her to go, but in my spirit I know that God is great. He's still in control," said family friend Pamela Williams Nixon.

The man Florida State Troopers said is responsible for the crash remained locked up in the Nassau County Jail. Pedro Alcazar was charged with six counts of vehicular homicide and was being held on $300,000 bond.