PINE BELT, Miss. (WDAM) – Family, friends and community members are in mourning after a Columbia High School football player was killed in a car crash Tuesday.

Senior Luke Davis Jr., 17, was traveling Highway 11 in Moselle when the vehicle he was in collided with another.

Davis’ girlfriend, Roxana Grimaldo, said Davis had just left her family’s home on Hankins Road an hour before headed to Hattiesburg.

“One of my brother’s friends sent him a video that there was an accident,” said Grimaldo. “But they never knew it was him until my brother came.

We just all freaked out that it was him.”

Grimaldo remembered Davis as a helping hand to everyone around him and a devoted father.

Davis also was a standout kicker for the Columbia High School Wildcats’ football team.

“He was expecting a scholarship from Mississippi State, Ole Miss or LSU for a kicker,” said Grimaldo.

Neighboring East and West Marion high schools offered their condolences on Facebook Wednesday morning.

Family members in the area are still processing what happened.

“They expected us to come this morning and open presents at their house,” Grimaldo said. “His dad is devastated. He misses his son. That was his only boy.”

Grimaldo said she and her family are trying their best to salvage what’s left of their Christmas.

She said she finds comfort in knowing Davis is at peace.

“I’m glad that he’s in a better place and he didn’t suffer while he was in the accident,” Grimaldo said. “He was going through a lot in his life, and all he wanted was just peace.”

Jones County Deputy Coroner Ernest Hollingsworth identified the second victim in the accident as 33-year-old Zebulon Lott.

A GoFundMe has been created to raise money for his family.

Donations can be made by clicking HERE.

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