It was a night designed to kick off a week of homecoming festivities.
And three former students — two of them brothers — had returned for the celebration Sunday in South Fulton County. One of them, Jerrett Mumford, was back from college to pass along the title he had earned last year: Mr. Banneker High School.
But at 8:15 p.m. a two-car collision claimed the lives of the three young men, remembered as star athletes and students.
Jerrett Mumford, 18, and his brother Jaylen Mumford, 16, died in the crash along with their friend 18-year-old Ibrahim Sankoh, the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s office said. All of the teenagers are from College Park.
Police on Monday provided few details about the crash in the 5800 block of Buffington Road in Union City.
A stunned community was reeling from the loss of three teens with bright futures.
Khadijatu Sankoh stood in shock Monday afternoon, trying to find a way to make sense of the death of her son, "my hero," and "my best friend."
Ibrahim was the oldest of three boys, whose parents were born in Sierra Leone. Khadijatu said she relied on her oldest son, as he was the responsible one, a kid who would pick up his younger brothers from school and day care if his mother was tied up at her job at Emory. He was funny and he was humble, she said.
“I have high hopes for him and he has high hopes for himself,” Khadijatu Sankoh said.
Nykia Greene-Young, a family friend of the Mumfords, called the baseball-loving brothers “very respectful young men, scholars and athletes” from a tight-knit family with four children.
“We have lost two great young men and this is very hard for the family,” Greene-Young said. “But we are going to let God be our guide.”
Jerrett Mumford was enrolled at Alabama State University with plans of pursuing a degree in medicine. But last year, during homecoming, he had been crowned Mr. Banneker High School, an honor bestowed on the student whose classmates found to be an outstanding leader, one who was not simply involved with his school but his community.
This year he’d returned to crown his successor. Banneker Principal Duke Bradley knew he could depend on Jerrett and his younger brother Jaylen to show up, even though Jaylen has recently transferred to Westlake High School.
Everyone was dressed in their finest, there was a talent show, music, dancing and speeches.
“It was the best coronation we’ve had in recent history,” Bradley said. “It was as festive an event at our school that we have beyond the graduation ceremony.”
Sankoh had been a standout in wrestling, football and soccer. He was headed to Georgia State University, Bradley said. The Mumford brothers had been baseball and football stars. All had been student leaders.
Grief counselors fanned out through Banneker on Monday for a student body that the principal described as "just really grieving." Outside the school, parents could be heard talking on cell phones about the accident, and expressing concern for the Mumford and Sankoh families.
The Mumford family were members of Friendship Community Church in Fairburn, and had two other children, a son and a daughter, Bradley said.
After the coronation, Jerrett had planned to drive back to Alabama State.
Bradley shook his head at the thought of it.
“I told Jerrett to remember that being Mr. Banneker comes with obligations and responsibilities,” Bradley said. “He said, ‘Yes sir. I got it.’”
The three were about two miles from the school when the accident happened.
Michael Thrasher said he was visiting a store around the corner from the crash site when he heard the crunching of metal. He left the store and saw a truck flipped upside down and hysterical girls.
Thrasher said he didn’t recognize the Mumford brothers, part of a family who is active in the baseball community, until family members came to the scene.
“Little Mumford looked just like he was laying outside the car,” Thrasher said.
Another teen in the car was trapped.
Thrasher said his first instinct was to help, but he didn’t want to touch anybody, so he dialed 911.
“And it breaks your heart because they were all good kids,” Thrasher said.
Kenneth Anderson, whose son played baseball at Banneker with the Mumfords, said the younger Mumford was playing for Marquis Grissom baseball travel baseball league.
“It’s going to be a loss that you can’t replace,” Anderson said. “I’m devastated.”
He said he hasn’t had much sleep and needed to come to the scene to see the tragedy himself.
“I still don’t believe it,” Anderson said.
Tijuana Anderson, who called the crash a "devastating loss," said the Sankoh and the Mumford brothers were humble, nice, athletic and some of the best kids she'd ever met.
Ibrahim’s mother said he had just gotten his driver’s license earlier this year, and she had recently given him money to put a new sound system in his car. He never wanted to be without his music, dancing and singing in the shower most days as he got ready to leave the house. A close second to music was football, a sport he loved and saw as a possible path to one day provide for his family.
“’Don’t worry mom, I’m going to take care of you,’” Khadijatu Sankoh recalled her son saying time and time again.
As a proud Banneker alumnae, he didn’t hesitate to attend the homecoming festivities on Sunday with his friends, the Mumford brothers. The last time she saw her oldest child, he was leaving to join his buddies, his mother said.
“I was thinking my son is going to be the one burying me, not me burying my son,” she said. “God is the one who gave him to me and he took him back. I can never question God.”
A candlelight vigil is planned for Thursday at Banneker High School.
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