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Beloved grandmother killed after driver hit her, took off

ATLANTA — A beloved grandmother is gone after a driver hit her and then took off.

On Friday night around 10:15, Atlanta police said an SUV hit Marcella Bellamy on James Jackson Parkway, near Proctor Creek in northwest Atlanta. Officers said the driver just kept going.

No arrests have been made.

Bellamy recently found out she was cancer-free and would have celebrated her 70th birthday in March.

“That lady was a ball of fire," said Tabitha Boyce.

Boyce said as a child, she wanted to grow up and be just like her aunt, Bellamy.

“We truly, truly, truly are going to miss her," Boyce said. “We’re having a hard time wrestling with the trauma of it," she said.

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Officers said a second driver hit Bellamy but stopped to call 911 and help police. Boyce said her strong family will get through this, but they just want the other driver to turn themselves in.

"You don’t know what you took from us. You don’t know what you took from us. And in the way that you took it from us. It hurts," Boyce said.

Boyce is calling for the city of Atlanta to invest in sidewalks and lighting in the area.

“There was a light that’s actually right in the area where the accident took place, but it doesn’t work, and that light could have possibly saved her life.”

Bellamy beat cancer twice. She leaves behind seven sisters.

"We needed the community to know that she was somebody, and she was loved," Boyce said.

Bellamy’s nieces told us she brought laughter and life to family gatherings.

Boyce said she forgives the hit-and-run driver.

Now she wants the driver to forgive herself and surrender to police.