Six-year-old kindergartner Maryana Kranz from Plainfield, Wisconsin, has died and her unnamed 4-year-old sister has been seriously injured after a pickup truck ran into the girls as they boarded their school bus Monday morning. The community has been left reeling from the "sweet little kindergartner's" shocking death.
The school bus reportedly had its lights flashing, but the driver of the truck didn't stop.
The bus was stopped along a state highway, Wisconsin 73, near 11th Avenue about 7:15 a.m. Monday, according to NBC 15. The two sisters, both students at Tri-County Area Schools, had already crossed the highway with other family members and were waiting to board when a Chevy Silverado reportedly driven by 76-year-old Carl Mullenix came up along the right side of the bus and hit them, ABC 2 reported.
Kranz died before she could be treated. Meanwhile, her sister was rushed to the hospital and has since been released back to her family.
It's unclear why the pickup truck, which was going the same direction as the bus, went around to the right side of it on the shoulder of the two-lane road. Some people on the scene have said it was extremely foggy Monday morning.
Wisconsin State Patrol officers are reconstructing the crash to learn more about what happened.
District Administrator Anthony Marinack told KFYR TV that seven students were on the bus during the crash who likely witnessed the accident. As a result, the school district is offering counseling and support for students and community members to help cope with the little girl's death.
Faculty members are also beginning to speak out about the tragedy.
"Weâre such a small, tight-knit community that everybody really feels the tragedy,â said Korryn Dean, who teaches fifth and sixth grade at the school. âSomber, very quiet. Some students have gone home. I think the majority that were on the bus have been picked up, gone home."
"Please continue to keep this family in your thoughts and prayers," a statement from the school district read, according to NBC 15.
It's unclear if Mullenix has been arrested in relation to Kranz's death, but a GoFundMe account has been created by a friend of the family to raise money for Kranz's funeral and her sister's medical expenses.
"I am asking for any help him and his family can get to pay for this poor little souls funeral who left too soon prayers to the family and friends," the friend wrote on the page, which is more than halfway to its goal.
