School mourns death of 8-year-old killed in car crash

Classmates are mourning the loss of an 8-year-old girl killed Monday afternoon in a Hall County crash.

Flags at World Language Academy Charter School where Aylin Rodriguez was a second-grade student, were flown at half-staff, Channel 2’s Diana Davis said.

Davis spent the day speaking with school leaders who called Aylin a bright, inquisitive girl.  They said they are having a hard time coping with her loss.

“Just prayers and thoughts for our school and our families would be greatly appreciated,” Principal David Moody said.  “It’s tough and I think people know that.”

Balloons and a teddy bear marked the site of the crash at the intersection of Queen City Parkway and Martin Luther King Boulevard in Gainesville.

Aylin was riding in the back seat of her family’s minivan when it was hit broadside by a driver that ran a stop sign, Gainesville Police told Davis.  The girl was thrown from a back window of the van and killed. But police said the outcome would have been different had been wearing a seatbelt.

“The child possibly would have sustained some injuries, but as far as ejection from the vehicle, that probably would not have occurred,” Gainesville Police Cpl. Joe Britte told Davis.

Her older brother was also in the car, but wearing a seatbelt and uninjured is a fifth-grade student at the school.

Witnesses said the driver of the Altima, which struck the Aylin's family, ran a red light, but police told Davis the cause of crash remains under investigation.   Charges are pending.