Illinois town mourns the 4 youngsters killed when a car barreled through their after-school camp

CHATHAM, Ill. (AP) — Residents of a small central Illinois city on Tuesday mourned the loss of three children and a teenager killed in a startling crash in which a car barreled through a building used for a popular after-school camp. Authorities said it didn't appear to be a targeted attack.

The car on Monday left a road, crossed a field and smashed into the side of the building in Chatham used by Youth Needing Other Things Outdoors, also known as YNOT, according to Illinois State Police. It traveled through the building, striking people before exiting the other side. Six children were also hospitalized, including one left in critical condition.

The Sangamon County coroner identified those killed as 18-year-old Rylee Britton of Springfield and three Chatham children: Ainsley Johnson, 8, and Kathryn Corley and Alma Buhnerkempe, both 7.

On Tuesday evening, with red ribbons tied in bows lining Main Street, hundreds of people gathered for a vigil in the town square, where heart-shaped boards bore the names of the four who died. Dozens of people signed messages to each.

“You were a great counselor,” 9-year-old Coralie Glessner wrote on the heart for Britton. Coralie, who has participated in YNOT’s program in the past, said she liked that Britton played four square with her. Asked for a memory of her, Coralie said, “Greeting me when I got off the bus” each day at YNOT.

Faith leaders spoke as attendees held lit candles. Lutheran Charities brought support animals, and the American Red Cross provided “water, snacks and tissues,” organizer Miriam Snider said.

Sam McCurdy, 19, drove home Tuesday from the University of Missouri in Columbia to be with his sister, a close friend of Britton’s. His sister, Britton and other friends had planned to attend prom together this weekend.

“I wanted to be here for her, and for the community, to show support,” McCurdy said. “So many plans, so many futures, and so much grieving for something that shouldn’t have happened.”

People in the community of about 15,000, located in what was once an open prairie outside the Illinois capital of Springfield, have also been grieving and consoling each other in other ways.

“People are coping by finding ways to be with each other, to provide comfort and support to those who are suffering,” Snider said.

Churches held prayer services, city leaders ordered flags to be flown at half-staff and schools held classes online. An ice cream shop offered free scoops and a community meeting place. Some locals changed their Facebook profile pictures to red ribbons with the motto “Chatham Strong.”

“This is just devastating," said Jennifer Walston, 43, as she and her daughters left flowers and a stuffed animal at the crash site. Plywood covered the hole where the car crashed into the building. She said her daughters knew Alma and Ainsley, remembering them as energetic girls who tried to include others.

“They were sweet girls,” Walston said.

The studio where Ainsley and two others hurt in the crash took dance canceled classes Tuesday. Teachers at Studio M Dance Centre remembered the 8-year-old in a Facebook post as a “sweet and sassy” dancer and tumbler who “will be deeply missed every single day.”

Earlier in the day, hundreds packed Cherry Hills Church. Most wore red, the color of Glenwood High School, where Britton was a senior.

Pastor Steve Patzia told the crowd that he saw her in church on Easter Sunday as he offered words of comfort.

“It’s good and right to feel how you feel, when you feel how you feel. I’ve had moments of grief and sadness. I’ve cried, and I’ve also had memories,” he said. “I would encourage you to share those good memories you have of her and the children that were lost as well.”

Parents said the YNOT Outdoors after-school and summer camp programs, which employ high school and college students as counselors, are coveted and competitive to get into. In social media posts, families recalled fond summer memories at the location which focuses on outdoor activities.

Walston’s daughters attended the summer camp and said they knew Alma and Ainsley, remembering them as energetic girls who tried to include others.

“They were sweet girls,” Walston said.

Jamie Loftus, founder of YNOT Outdoors, said security camera footage showed a vehicle left the road “a substantial distance” away and sped across the field toward the building.

The car then crossed a road, the sidewalk and YNOT’s parking lot before crashing through the building “with no apparent attempt to alter its direction,” Loftus said. The vehicle then crossed a gravel road and crashed into a pole and fence.

“I cannot gather the words to express much of anything that will make sense in print," Loftus said in a social media post about the victims on Monday. “They are friends and their kids are like our kids.”

Jacob Rabin, 19, who attended YNOT as a child, said the 3:20 p.m. crash happened at the worst possible time.

“They would have just gotten off the buses” at YNOT, Rabin said. “There would have been the peak amount of people there at that time.”

The driver, a 44-year-old Chatham woman, wasn’t injured but was taken to a hospital for evaluation. Police said toxicology reports were pending. She was not in custody on Tuesday. State police declined to offer further details, saying the crash remains under investigation.

“This does not appear to be a targeted attack,” state police said.

Officials in the Ball-Chatham School District, where the four victims attended schools, said classes would be online through Thursday.

“As we mourn this unimaginable loss, we recognize the pain and grief that many are experiencing,” Superintendent Becca Lamon and Chatham Village President Dave Kimsey said in a joint statement. “We are all hurting.”

The deadly crash comes days after a car plowed through a crowded street during a Filipino heritage festival in Canada, killing 11 people. Similar vehicle ramming events have taken place worldwide.

Associated Press writers Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington, and Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed.

Seven-year-old Harriet Glessner writes on a heart for Alma Buhnerkempe at a vigil for three young children and a teenager, including Buhnerkempe, who were killed when a car barreled through a building used for an after-school camp Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Notes are left on a heart for Kathryn Corley at a vigil for three young children and a teenager, including Corley, who were killed when a car barreled through a building used for an after-school camp Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Heather Glessner comforts her 9-year-old daugher Coralie at a vigil for three young children and a teenager who were killed when a car barreled through a building used for an after-school camp, Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Damage is visible at the scene after a car barreled through a building used for an after-school camp Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Flowers and ribbons decorate a picture of 18-year-old Rylee Britton, one of four people, including three young children, killed when a car barreled through a building used for an after-school camp, Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

People leave balloons at the scene where a car barreled through a building used for an after-school camp Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Flowers and ribbons decorate a picture of 18-year-old Rylee Britton, one of four people, including three young children, killed when a car barreled through a building used for an after-school camp, Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Sue Meyer writes on a heart for Rylee Britton at a vigil for three young children and a teenager, including Britton, who were killed when a car barreled through a building used for an after-school camp Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Nine-year-old Coralie Glessner writes on a heart for Alma Buhnerkempe at a vigil for three young children and a teenager, including Buhnerkempe, who were killed when a car barreled through a building used for an after-school camp Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Teacher Dawn Peck hugs her seven-year-old student Harriet Glessner at a vigil for three young children and a teenager who were killed when a car barreled through a building used for an after-school camp Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Police tape is left at the scene after a car barreled through a building used for an after-school camp Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Flowers and other gifts are left at the scene after a car barreled through a building used for an after-school camp Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Harrison Allen, 14, kneels in prayer at the scene after a car barreled through a building used for an after-school camp Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

People leave balloons at the scene for victims killed when a car barreled through a building used for an after-school camp, Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

An overhead view shows the scene where victims were killed when a car barreled through a building used for an after-school camp, Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Flowers and other gifts are left at the scene after a car barreled through a building used for an after-school camp Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Brandy Fletcher leaves flowers at the scene after a car barreled through a building used for an after-school camp Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Jennifer Walston, 43, hugs daughter Lexi Walston, 6, while sisters Briley Walston, 9 and Madison Foster, 10, place flowers and stuffed animals at the site where several were killed Monday, when a car barreled through a building used for an after-school camp in Chatham, Ill., on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/John O'Connor)

Madison Foster, 10, points out the flowers and plush bunny she left for the victims who were killed Monday, when a car barreled through a building used for an after-school camp in Chatham, Ill., on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/John O'Connor)

Jennifer Walston, 43, hugs daughter Lexi Walston, 6, while sisters Briley Walston, 9 and Madison Foster, 10, place flowers and stuffed animals at the site where several were killed Monday, when a car barreled through a building used for an after-school camp in Chatham, Ill., on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/John O'Connor)

Police block a road leading to a building where a car smashed through during an after-school program, killing several people and injuring others, Monday, April 28, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (AP Photo/John O'Connor)

Emergency vehicles block a road leading to a building where a car smashed through during an after-school program, killing several people and injuring others, Monday, April 28, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (AP Photo/John O'Connor)

This image taken from video provided by WCIA shows first responders working the scene after a car smashed through a building during an after-school program, killing multiple people Monday, April 28, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (WCIA via AP)

Police block a road leading to a building where a car smashed through during an after-school program, killing several people and injuring others, Monday, April 28, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (AP Photo/John O'Connor)

This image taken from video provided by WCIA shows first responders working the scene after a car smashed through a building during an after-school program, killing multiple people Monday, April 28, 2025, in Chatham, Ill. (WCIA via AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s government accused the United States of attacking civilian and military installations in multiple states after at least seven explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard around 2 a.m. local time Saturday in the capital, Caracas.

The Pentagon and White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Smoke could be seen rising from the hangar of a military base in Caracas. Another military installation in the capital was without power.

People in various neighborhoods rushed to the streets. Some could be seen in the distance from various areas of Caracas.

“The whole ground shook. This is horrible. We heard explosions and planes,” said Carmen Hidalgo, a 21-year-old office worker, her voice trembling. She was walking briskly with two relatives, returning from a birthday party. “We felt like the air was hitting us.”

Venezuela’s government, in the statement, called on its supporters to take to the streets.

“People to the streets!” the statement said. “The Bolivarian Government calls on all social and political forces in the country to activate mobilization plans and repudiate this imperialist attack.”

The statement added that President Nicolás Maduro had “ordered all national defense plans to be implemented” and declared “a state of external disturbance.”

This comes as the U.S. military has been targeting, in recent days, alleged drug-smuggling boats. On Friday, Venezuela said it was open to negotiating an agreement with the U.S. to combat drug trafficking.

Maduro also said in a pretaped interview aired Thursday that the U.S. wants to force a government change in Venezuela and gain access to its vast oil reserves through the monthslong pressure campaign that began with a massive military deployment to the Caribbean Sea in August.

Maduro has been charged with narco-terrorism in the U.S. The CIA was behind a drone strike last week at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels in what was the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began strikes on boats in September.

U.S. President Donald Trump for months had threatened that he could soon order strikes on targets on Venezuelan land. The U.S. has also seized sanctioned oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela, and Trump ordered a blockade of others in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American country’s economy.

The U.S. military has been attacking boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean since early September. As of Friday, the number of known boat strikes is 35 and the number of people killed is at least 115, according to numbers announced by the Trump administration.

They followed a major buildup of American forces in the waters off South America, including the arrival in November of the nation’s most advanced aircraft carrier, which added thousands more troops to what was already the largest military presence in the region in generations.

Trump has justified the boat strikes as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S. and asserted that the U.S. is engaged in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.

Meanwhile, Iranian state television reported on the explosions in Caracas on Saturday, showing images of the Venezuelan capital. Iran has been close to Venezuela for years, in part due to their shared enmity of the U.S.

Pedestrians walk past the Miraflores presidential palace after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

Residents evacuate a building near the Miraflores presidential palace after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

Smoke raises at La Carlota airport after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Pedestrians run after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Smoke raises at La Carlota airport after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Smoke raises at La Carlota airport after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Pedestrians run after explosions and low-flying aircraft were heard in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)