‘Remarkable souls’: Smithfield-Selma High students mourned at vigil after fatal crash

Christopher Jackson Jr., 16, was a receiver and cornerback for the Spartans, the Smithfield-Selma High School football team.

Semaj Williams, 16, shared the field with his fellow Spartan as a receiver and safety.

Freddy Seras, 17, was loved by his girlfriend and dreamed of being a rapper.

Alan Lockamy, 17, was beloved by his grandparents and was known for his big smile.

The four teens were memorialized in a vigil Wednesday night by hundreds of students, families and Smithfield-Selma High staff. They gathered on the bleachers and track of the football field at the Johnston County high school.

The campus has mourned the teens this week after they died in a high-speed crash on Interstate 95 northbound in the early hours of Monday.

Troopers said Lockamy, who was behind the wheel, was traveling at over 100 mph about 2:30 a.m. when it ran off the road at exit 93 and crashed.

“As we come together to honor their lives, let us find solace in the shared love and cherished moments that will forever bond us to these remarkable souls,” Smithfield-Selma High School principal Crystal Gregory said at the vigil.

The vigil also memorialized Kali Hwang, a 17-year-old student who died in November. According to an online obituary, she died of health problems. She enjoyed Christian music and made cards for residents of nursing homes, the obituary said.

Williams was days short of celebrating his seventeenth birthday on Jan. 26, Gregory said.

“Semaj had a confidence that inspired those around him,” said Gregory. “Always asking, ‘Miss G, who da best?’ He carried himself with a sense of pride and determination that left an incredible mark.”

Both Williams and Jackson Jr. aspired to reach football stardom one day, their friends said at the vigil.

The school set up a temporary memorial for students inside the building, and staff collected gift cards to be divided among the families of the crash victims.

Personalities of teenagers remembered

Several members of school staff spoke at the vigil, as well as family members and friends of the teenagers.

“They were friends who lifted each other up through the highs and lows that came along with being a teenager,” said Tarsha Mac, a teacher.

Mac, who described herself as the boys’ favorite teacher, described helplessness and sorrow upon learning of their deaths. She remembered each one by specific anecdotes and details.

“Alan’s quiet politeness, especially when you thought you knew he was up to something,” said Mac. “Semaj’s infectious laughter and silliness that makes you laugh, even when you feel like crying. Freddy’s honesty, because you can best believe that he was going to tell you what it was straight up, whether you liked it or not.”

She also remembered Jackson’s smile “when he walks into your room wanting some snacks pretending to be shy, when you know all along he’s not really shy at all.”

Seras was born in Dunn to Mexican immigrant parents from Michoacán, his family said in an interview.

He left the house late Sunday to hang out with his friends, spending time with the other boys before the fatal crash, his family said.

“He was a happy kid, hyperactive,” said Sammy, one of his brothers. “He was trying to be a rapper. He went by the name FredoODB.”

He is survived by three brothers and one sister, and he had a girlfriend.

Lockamy’s grandparents, Miguel and Terry Marquez, were present at the vigil. Terry Marquez described how her grandson enjoyed playing football in elementary and middle school. His grandfather taught him how to work on cars as a trade.

“The last time I saw him was January 1st, he gave me a big hug and that sweet smile,” his grandmother said.

Shortly after 7 p.m. at the vigil’s conclusion, students and families walked in droves onto the football field at the high school to release balloons into the air.

Blue and gold, the Spartan colors, shined in the night sky as hundreds of balloons floated above the people gathered around the boys’ portraits on the field.

Teen fatalities on Johnston County’s roads

The loss of four boys in one crash was not only a tragedy for their families and friends but also a setback for Johnston County, which has worked hard to reduce teen fatalities on its roads since one particularly deadly year.

In 2007, 11 teens lost their lives in crashes in Johnston, the most of any county in North Carolina that year. Many of those crashes took place on two-lane country roads, with narrow or no shoulders, that were rapidly filling with suburban traffic.

County leaders, educators and students rallied to try to encourage safer driving. A focal point of that effort was the creation of JoCo Teen Drivers, a network of student groups in Johnston High Schools led by faculty advisors that organized mock crashes and other events to try to get students to slow down, pay attention and wear their seat belts.

The Johnston County Public Schools declined to make anyone available to The News & Observer to talk about JoCo Teen Drivers. But the efforts appear to have paid off. Between 2015 and 2022, Johnston County has averaged fewer than 2 teen deaths a year in car crashes, according to data compiled by the Division of Motor Vehicles.

Mark Ezzell, director of the Governor’s Highway Safety Program, said crashes like this one stiffen the resolve of safety advocates.

“Johnston County had done so well in this area since 2007,” Ezzell said in an interview. “And we want to make sure that they can continue to save lives. This is just a very unfortunate incident that jars the community and jars those of us who work in traffic safety.”