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NY Post
New York Post
20 Mar 2023


NextImg:Heartbreaking photos show five children killed in NY crash

Heartbreaking images showed the five young relatives killed when a 16-year-old driver crashed off a Scarsdale parkway in the early hours of Sunday.

Images of the dead — aged from 8 to 17 — emerged in a series of social media posts by their parents as well as a fundraiser seeking help for their collective funerals.

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Dad Anthony Billips called it “the most painful post I ever had to write in my life” as he revealed he, his wife, ex-wife and sister had “lost our precious kids in a fatal car accident.”

“Six kids [were] in the car only one survived,” he wrote of the 9-year-old boy that police said had been in the trunk of the Nissan Rogue that flew off the Hutchinson River Parkway and into a tree at around 12:30 a.m.

“The pain we are feeling words [can’t] even express and we wouldn’t wish this to happen to anyone in this world,” he wrote.

Malik Smith, 16, was driving the SUV. Smith, 17-year-old Anthony Billips Jr., 12-year-old Zahnyiah Cross, 11-year-old Shawnell Cross and 8-year-old Andrew Billips, were all killed in the crash, according to Westchester County Police.

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Zahnyiah’s mom, Nicole Cross, also shared a series of harrowing posts with pics of some of the dead children — writing: “Mommy loves you girls sooooo F—ING much.”

Malik Smith, Anthony Billips Jr., Zahnyiah Cross, Shawnell Cross and Andrew Billips, were all killed in the crash.
Faebook/Anthony Billips

“Lord Jesus I don’t understand why you had to take our babies from us please give us the strength,” she wrote in an earlier post Sunday.

“Lord God these kids didn’t deserve this like why is this happening,” she asked. “I’m begging we lost five kids in a tragic ass accident and don’t know what to do or how to handle this God please help us.”

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She linked to a fundraiser that by Monday morning had raised nearly $20,000 of its $50,000 target “to help bury our children we lost.”

One of the children and a relative.

Anthony Billips made a heartfelt post about the loss of the children in the crash.
Faebook/Anthony Billips

Children.

Two of the children lost to the fiery crash.
Faebook/Anthony Billips

Social media post.

Nicole Cross lost her daughters Shawnell and Zahnyiah.
Facebook/Nicole Cross

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“Please anything will help we just want to put our babies to rest,” she wrote in that.

Police said all five kids were from Connecticut, and school officials said that they were such new arrivals in Derby they had yet to be enrolled in the school district there.

It was not immediately clear where they were heading when police say the 16-year-old driver crashed.

“It’s the unimaginable,” said Derby’s superintendent of schools, Matt Conwa.

“Having to now make arrangements for five of your children to be buried is a very difficult thing for anyone — one child, never mind five that you’re going to have to now make arrangements for,” Conway said.

Derby Town Clerk Marc Garofalo told Fox 61 that it was a tragedy that “leaves you without words.”

Car crash scene.

The SUV struck a tree and burst into flames.
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“My heart breaks for the parents of these kids and their families. It’s just such an enormous thing to try to comprehend,” he said.