2 teens from same Chicago high school killed in separate hit-and-runs 9 days apart

Two students at a Chicago high school were killed just nine days apart in separate hit-and-runs, leaving their friends, families and communities devastated as police search for the drivers responsible.

18-year-old Lania Smith was killed in a hit-and-run on Monday near East Sibley Boulevard and MLK Jr Drive in Dolton and 15-year-old Violet Harris was killed on March 22nd while riding a scooter with friends near 77th and Exchange in South Shore. Both girls went to Hyde Park Academy in Chicago.

Smith’s aunt, Shaliah Maddox, told NBC Chicago she was “full of life” and a “big, bubbly person ever since she was a kid.”

“It’s horrendous,” Maddox said. “They’re young girls.”

Smith was a beloved member of the Pom Squad at Hyde Park Academy and just says away from graduation, after which she hoped to attend nursing school.

“You’re not supposed to bury your kids,” Maddox said.

The oldest of five siblings and a senior at Hyde Park Academy, Smith was switching buses in Dolton while on her way to where she works at a restaurant in Calumet City after school on Monday.

She was crossing the street when a person driving a red car hit her and drove away.

Maddox said witnesses told her the vehicle was speeding to beat a light.

“They said that if they didn’t hit my niece, it was going to hit something,” Maddox said.

A Dolton spokesperson said police are looking for a red 2007 Chevrolet corvette with license plate FR-56-003

“Somebody knows something,” Maddox said.

Chicago police are also continuing to investigate the hit-and-run that killed Harris on March 22. A description of the vehicle has not been release by authorities.