Car drives into crowd in Selmer, kills 2

SELMER, Tenn —  An engaged couple was killed in a tragic crash Saturday afternoon during the Rockabilly Highway Revival Festival in downtown Selmer according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

Investigators said a driver broke through a barricade around 1:45 P.M. and drove almost four blocks through the crowd, hitting 51-year-old Sherri Duncan and 62-year-old Michae
l Johnson.

More than 100 people gathered together Saturday evening at First Baptist Church in Selmer which sits right at the beginning of the crash scene.

Young and old gathered as they held a candlelight vigil for the couple while investigators still worked outside the church doors.

“I was real close to what happened today, and and its just nothing like I have ever witnessed in my life, and hope I never do again,” eyewitness and friend of the victims Aubrey King said.

King said he was downtown when the crash happened, he said he was good friends with Duncan and Johnson, and that they had have been helping with his battle with cancer. He said a couple of weeks ago they helped with a fundraiser for his finances.

“They was there from early helping out, doing whatever they could to help raise money so I could be off of work and take care of me, you know, I’ve lost two real good friends,” King said.

Pastors from different churches spoke at the service, many who were at the crash.

“I saw someone go up in the air, I’ve never seen nothing like that you know, and then the car kept on going and wrecked on down further, it was a horrific sight,” Pastor Leon Taylor of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church said.

“The lady was trying to outrun them the gentleman and she got caught up under the bumper and the gentleman got throw up in the air several feet” eyewitness Tony Chapman said.

Alayna Dard was at the festival with her family when she heard the commotion just a few feet away.

“I was standing on the corner of the road where the people got hit, and I heard a car coming, but I just thought they were just going down the side roads or something, and then the next thing I know everyone was yelling, ‘Watch out watch out!’ and I took a step back and the next thing I knew all I could see was bodies in the road,” she said.

While many are shaken, community leaders said they will heal, one step at a time.

“I would hope that we would turn to the Lord, and turn to one another and work through, this it’s gonna be difficult it’s not gonna be easy, but it is gonna be possible,” First Baptist Church Selmer Pastor Joey Johnson said.

Officials have not released the current condition of the driver, just that he was airlifted to the hospital with injuries.
Authorities are holding a press conference at the Selmer Visitor Center Sunday afternoon at 1 P.M. with more details.