WLBT 3 - Jackson, MS: Tougaloo cheerleaders remembered

Tougaloo cheerleaders remembered

By Cheryl Lasseter - bio | email

JACKSON, MS (WLBT) - "Shanna and Kiara were best friends. They did everything together," says Miracle Malone, Shanna's cousin, at a memorial service for the girls Friday.   "They cheered in high school, they decided to come to Tougaloo together, they were roommates, went out together, shopped together."

And unfortunately Shanna Whitt and Kiara Taylor were together the afternoon of October 2 when both were killed in an accident on State Street in Jackson. They were headed back to the Tougaloo campus after College Day at Rowan Middle School. A third girl in the car, Jamilla Haywood, also a cheerleader, suffered serious injuries.

Friday morning, a service for the cheerleaders was held inside Tougaloo's historic Woodworth Chapel.

The girls are remembered as studious, innovative, and enthusiastic.

"(Shanna) always talked about where she was going in life, how she was gonna get there.  She was a motivation to us all to put our best foot forward in everything we did," Malone says.

Fellow Tougaloo cheerleaders comforted each other. Dorecia Washington says she still can't accept the deaths of her two friends.

"Not the girls I tried out with, made the squad with," she says.  "It's something you would never forget. We all got in trouble together, laughed together, got fussed at together.  Without 'em being here, it's an empty spot."

Both girls were from Greenville, Mississippi, and another memorial took place Friday at their old high school.  That's where most family members were. "The families are doing well," Malone says.  "We've cried. We've been hurt. Now we're all smiling because we know that everything happens for a reason, and Shanna and Kiara are in better places."

Haywood remains in fair condition at University Medical Center in Jackson.