Gwinnett County

Snellville teen dies after being hit by driver turning into parking space, police say

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Police are investigating the death of a student who was hit and killed by a driver Thursday morning.

The accident happened at 6:15 a.m. at an apartment complex off Kings Gate Circle in Gwinnett County.

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Snellville police said a driver hit 16-year-old Camaya Harris while turning into a parking space.

Gwinnett County Fire said Harris died at the scene just feet from her front door.

Channel 2′s Christian Jennings talked to Camaya’s family, who said she was walking to the bus stop when she was hit.

Vern Wood said she can’t believe her granddaughter, a student at South Gwinnett High School, is gone. Wood said Camaya was on her first day of ROTC and was in uniform for her inspection.

“Camaya was my everything. She was my world. She was one of them kids that loved everybody,” Harris’ aunt, Natalie Hill, said “To know her was to love her.”

The Snellville Police Department’s Accident Investigation Unit is still investigating the accident.

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Wood said she doesn’t understand how the accident happened.

“I mean, how can you pull into a parking spot and take a life like that?” Wood said. “You have to be speeding. That’s the only thing I can think of.”

Police said the driver, who hasn’t been identified, stayed at the scene, and investigators are talking to witnesses. Police have not said if the driver is facing charges, only that the case is still under investigation.

Hill said all they can do is comfort her parents they best they can and focus on the joy Camaya brought to their lives.

“Camaya was a child who, when mom or dad needed her, she was the oldest,” Hills aid. “She was the second mother of the other five siblings.”

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