A man is now charged with second degree murder in the fatal hit and run accident that killed Marcus Lassiter. Meanwhile, Lassiter's classmates are remembering him.
CLAYTON -- Hipolito Zamora Hernandez, 29, is no charged with second degree murder in the fatal hit and run accident that killed a 7-year old boy.
The highway patrol says Hernandez hit Marcus Lassiter on Sunday when Lassiter and a friend were walking along a road in Johnston County.
Lassiter died on Tuesday, so Hernandez’s charges were upgraded. Troopers say he was speeding at the time of the accident and had a blood alcohol level of 0.21.
Meanwhile, Lassiter's classmates at Cooper Elementary School in Clayton are hard at work, all in the memory of their friend. What looks like a typical first grade project has a deep purpose and meaning for these children.
"I'm making a bead necklace for Marcus, and then we're going to sell them to make money for his family," explained Lassiter’s classmate Paris Pugh.
"There wasn’t one person in here he didn’t play with, he played with all of them. He walked in every morning with a huge smile on his face," said Kate Mundt, Lassiter’s teacher.
After hearing the news of his death, students wanted to help and needed to grieve.
"I think that they are at a loss for how to deal with it. Some of them don’t have the experience in dealing with death, so they know they’re doing a good thing. They’re helping out Marcus' family and also remembering him," said Mundt.
So with each bead they remember their friend, and with each necklace and dollar, they're raising money for Lassiter’s family.
"He had big buck teeth, and his smile was pretty, and he was nice," recalled Pugh.
The students will finish making necklaces Friday and give all the money they raised to Lassiter’s family.
"We used to play football, and he called me ‘Yo Yo,’" remembered Quinn Kotorman, another classmate.
The response around the school and community has been overwhelming.
"We probably had 80 kids [come in] this morning wanting to buy necklaces, and we sold out in about 10 minutes," said Mundt.
"It was so crowded I couldn't get in the doorway," said Kotorman.
With nearly 400 necklaces already assembled, there's one that the students know Marcus would want.
"A blue and white one [because] he loves the Carolina team, and his favorite color was blue," said Makayla Deveughn, Lassiter’s classmate.
The students will finish making necklaces Friday and give all the money they raised to Lassiter’s family.