'She's irreplaceable': Vigil held days after 6-year-old Aria Woznick killed in North Belle Vernon
NORTH BELLE VERNON, Pa. (KDKA) — The North Belle Vernon community came together Monday to remember a 6-year-old girl who was hit and killed by the driver of a vehicle while walking to the bus stop last week.
Aria Woznick died last Friday when she stepped into traffic and got hit on Fayette Street, police said. Despite the heavy rain on Monday, the community turned out for a vigil.
"Aria, you impacted all of our lives and she made us all better and my heart is broken," one person said.
"She was a little spark plug," resident Chris Obitko said. "She put a lot of joy into everyone's life."
Police say the child did not see the car coming. The driver who hit her stayed at the scene and is cooperating, officials said.
Woznick's family remembered her as a girl who they said was full of life, spunky and a firecracker.
"She had these big, beautiful blue eyes," said Jennifer Weems, the girls' aunt. "Words can't express how beautiful her soul was."
"She's irreplaceable," she added. "And for the community all coming together, I've never seen anything like this in my life."
Through tears, Woznick's mother and grandfather thanked the community during the vigil.
"I love everybody," Amanda Woznick said. "This was Aria's world. We all just lived in it."
Aria Woznick's grandfather said she would go 100 miles an hour and then would fall asleep in his arms.
"This community has gone so above and beyond, you can't put it into words," said the child's grandfather, Tim Woznick Sr. "I thank you all from the bottom of my heart."