Police say a 16-year-old Punxsutawney girl is dead after a car she was riding in went off the road and rolled onto its side yesterday.

Police say she and another passenger were not wearing seatbelts and were thrown from the car.

“Nothing like this ever happens around here very often, but when it does, it sort of like puts a cloud over the whole area,” says crash site neighbor Joe Woods.

Woods says he spotted the car being towed after Thursday’s crash around 12:30 p.m. on Shale Pit Road near Anita.

Word soon spread that a 16-year-old Punxsutawney girl died in the crash.

“I heard from a friend and he seemed very devastated. His sister was very devastated. He had to go home from the skate park,” says Ciara Shepler, 13.

“I didn’t want to believe it. I was like this can’t be happening, it’s all a dream,” says Marley Hartzfeld, 14.

Woods says he told a neighbor, who’d been behind the girl’s Chrysler PT Cruiser and got out to help after the crash, to seek help.

“Even this morning when I woke up, I thought about what those girls were doing yesterday at this time and what they went through,” says Woods.

School officials say two counselors were there from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m on Friday at the high school after sending out a text message to high school parents and students.

“I knew all three of the girls that were in the car accident, so I’m just saying like since they were all close, that I’m there for them,” says Makela Crawford, 15.

“She was always smiling and pretty and whenever you saw her in the hall, she was always laughing,” says Hartzfeld.

Police say the 16-year-old driver was not injured, while another 18-year-old passenger, Zoey Smith, had a suspected minor injury.

“My thoughts were that my prayers go out to those families,” says Jason Stahlman, who knows the driver.

And now, many students are thinking back to a girl they knew and a life cut short.

“She was really nice and she would always, if someone was down in the halls, she’d look at them and smile,” says Crawford.

“Life is only inches and seconds and this is why we live each day to the best and thank God for what we got because we never know when it’s over,” says Woods.

The girl’s name has not been released and the police report says the primary violation is driving too fast.