By Kyle Coppola
City of Eustis to Hold Vigil for Victims of Tragic Car Crash
EUSTIS, Fla. — The City of Eustis will hold a community vigil on Sunday to honor the lives of three young women who were killed in a devastating high-speed crash over the weekend in Howey-In-The-Hills.
The victims, Kaneisha Lewis of Eustis, Aqutavia Pew of Eustis and Shaykaylah Mathis of Mount Dora lost their lives in the early morning hours of Saturday when the 2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee they were traveling in crashed on State Road 19 at Florian Lane at approximately 3:16 a.m. According to authorities, the driver and all three passengers were not wearing seatbelts and were ejected from the vehicle.
The vigil is scheduled for Sunday, April 6, at 5:00 p.m. at Carver Park, located at 2214 East Bates Avenue in Eustis. The event will serve as a time for the community to grieve, reflect, and support one another in the wake of this tragic loss.
Attendees will also offer prayers for Mariah Belcher of Eustis, who remains hospitalized following the crash.
Local officials encourage the public to come together in remembrance and to extend support to the families affected by the tragedy. Further details about the vigil and ways to assist the victims’ families will be shared by community organizers in the coming days.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
