4 girls who were killed in Illinois after-school program are identified

The four girls who were killed on Monday to crash a school camp program in Illinois were identified by the Coroner district.

Sangamon County's forensic doctor, Jim Allmon, published the names of all victims in a press release on Tuesday and identified them as Rylee Britton, 18; Ainsley Johnson, 8; Alma Buhnerkempe, 7; and Kathryn Corley, 7. According to the forensic doctor's office, they were declared dead at the crime scene.

Alma's mother, Billie Buhnerkempe, said NBC News that her daughter “a sunshine where she went”.

“She was cute, sociable, silly and funny,” said Buhnerkempe. “She loved her friends and family violently. She loved playing football, playing basketball and doing gymnastics.”

Alma's younger brother Will has autism, added Buhnerkempre. Alma “loved and supported him the way it was only a big sister,” said her mother.

Ainsley's father Todd Johnson refused to be interviewed, but confirmed her death to NBC News on Tuesday. Her nickname, he said, was “squirted”.

“It was bigger than life and will leave an emptiness in our broken hearts forever,” said Johnson.

Family members for Kathryn and Rylee did not immediately respond to inquiries about comments from NBC News.

Six others were brought to the hospital health system, five of which were included in the children's hospital. One person was treated and released, said the hospital.

Illinois State Police said that after the school camp, a vehicle drove to the building in Ynot in the city of Chatham at around 3:20 p.m. The cause of the crash is examined.

The authorities identified the driver as a 44-year-old Marianne Akers in Chatham. The state police reported that Akers, who is not in custody, was subjected to toxicological tests and the results are pending.

Jamie Loftus, founder of Ynot Outdoors, described the crash on Tuesday as a “unpleasant tragedy”. According to Loftus, surveillance cameras showed an SUV with a “high speed rate” through a field in the direction of the building with “no obvious attempt to change its direction”.

Loftus asked the people to keep the victims' families in their thoughts and asked and at the same time give them “space and respect”, and at the same time gave them “space and respect”.

“I can't collect the words to express a lot of everything that makes sense in printed form,” said Loftus. “However, I know that our families, who have suffered loss and injury today, hurt very, very, very badly. They are friends and their children like our children.”