Coming together where loved ones lost their lives just days before, friends and family lit candles and shed tears as they remembered the teenage victims of a fatal Hartford crash.
Connell Chambers, 18, and Rubbie Laguerre, 15, of Hartford, died just after midnight Thursday when the car they were riding in slammed into a vacant building at the corner of Albany Avenue and Main Street.
Many people who attended the vigil said they were still in shock and disbelief.
"It's weird because he was supposed to walk across the stage," said Kyla Kelley, a friend of Chambers. "You can't imagine any of your friends not graduating."
"I expect him to pop up out of nowhere just smiling. It doesn't feel like he's gone to me," said Marlon Barnard, another friend.
Police said Chambers was driving his mother's Infiniti with Laguerre in the front seat and 17-year-old Schneider Cadet in back when he lost control and crashed.
Cadet made it out before the car burst into flames, police said. He survived and was being treated for minor injuries at St. Francis Hospital.
Laguerre and Chambers died on impact.
Sunday's growing memorial gave friends and family members of the victims a chance to grieve together.
"When I came here and saw all these people I started crying because Ruby did have a lot of friends and people that cared about her, and it just hurt me to see them all come over here and mourn her death with me," said Laguerre's friend Amanda Stewart.
The crash remains under investigation.