‘He was heaven on earth,' says mother of man killed in I-8 crash in Grantville
A San Diego family is in mourning, remembering the 19-year-old killed in Monday night’s multi-car crash on Interstate 8 in Grantville.
The family of De’Veonte Morris joined in a prayer circle outside their San Carlos home to help them cope with his death.
“He was just my rock,” Annesha Meekie, Morris’ mother, told NBC 7. “I don’t even know how I can even live or think or eat or drink or sleep without him.”
The 19-year-old’s car flipped over Monday night in a two-vehicle crash on eastbound I-8, near Fairmount Avenue. La Mesa police Officer Lauren Craven, 25, was killed by an oncoming car while responding to the wreck.
“I’m very thankful for that officer, and I’m sorry. My condolences,” Morris’ mother said.
His family says as the California Highway Patrol investigates, their hearts are overflowing with sorrow, and their heads are filled with questions.
“Did he go peacefully? Or was he, like, trying to bam! Bam! Bam! ‘Let me out! Let me out?'” questioned Shalonda Spelmon, Morris’ grandmother.
Morris was just starting out in the adult world. His family says he worked at Walmart in Santee, but they don’t know if he was on his way home from there.
“I miss him,” said his 6-year-old brother Amon, who family says Morris treated like a son.
“He’d teach him his ABCs, you know, teach him how to open the door, to be a gentleman,” said his grandmother, Sistonya Meechie. “He was really positive with him and showed him a lot.”
The manners he taught his brother are the same characteristics his mother says he embodied.
“He was heaven on earth,” his mother said. “Everyone he touched, he was just a beautiful soul, like, he was always respectful. He was responsible. He motivated people.”
His family says his beautiful soul is now joining his father, Tyree, in heaven, who died on the same day three years ago.
“I just love him forever, and I’m forever heartbroken,” Morris’ mother said. “And he just meant the world to me. That was living my heart.”
