Owings Mills Teen To Be Memorialized With Celebration Of Life

TOWSON, MD — An Owings Mills teen who died on her way to school in Towson last week will be memorialized this Saturday at the institution where she was months away from graduating. A candlelight vigil Friday night drew hundreds to George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology to honor the teen.

Kayla Winter Perry, 17, died Tuesday. Police said she was on her way to school Oct. 22 when her car jumped the curb on Charles Street and slid up the guardrail near the entrance to Loyola Blakefield.

Afterward, authorities said she got out of her Honda Accord and was hit by a truck dragging utility lines that had come down in the crash. The wires hit her with the same force the truck would have, police told WMAR. Officials are investigating if weather was a factor in the accident, the station reported, since it was raining Tuesday morning.

When the teen's mother, Shantae Mitchell-Dow, did not get a text from her daughter confirming she had made it to school safely that morning, she said she tracked her daughter's phone to GBMC. Once she arrived at the hospital, "The police came in and the chaplain and...I just lost it; I couldn't believe it," Mitchell-Dow told WMAR. "It was devastating,"

Perry was a senior studying dance at Carver, where Fox 45 reported more than a hundred people gathered for a vigil Friday to light candles and share memories of the lively teen.

"It was never a dull moment with her," friend Kaiya Vickers told WJZ.

Others remembered the teen for her laugh, her spirit and her dancing.

A celebration of life to honor Kayla Winter Perry is planned for 10 a.m. Nov. 2 at George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology, 938 York Rd, Baltimore, MD 21204.

There is a GoFundMe page set up for those who wish to donate to her family.

RELATED: Carver Student Dies After Charles Street Crash

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RIGHT NOW: A large crowd of family, friends gather at Carver Center for Arts and Technology to remember student Kayla Perry, 17. She died Tuesday morning in a freak accident crash while on her way to school. @wbaltv11 pic.twitter.com/kZJduAyi7L
— Tre Ward (@TreWardWBAL) October 25, 2019