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Family and friends mourn woman killed in wrong-way crash in Fort Worth
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Family and friends mourn woman killed in wrong-way crash in Fort Worth

FORT WORTH, Texas (KWTX) – We’re learning more about two people who were there Wrong-way crash that killed five people on Loop 820 on Sunday.

Evan Ranallo and Chelsea Cook were driving home from Loop 820 early Sunday morning. Ranallo plays guitar and his band had performed a few hours earlier. They were almost at home when the tragedy occurred.

“They were about a mile from their exit and they crashed head-on, the car was going the wrong way,” said Laurel Summerfield, Chelsea Cook’s mother.

Fort Worth Police say the driver of a Ford Focus going the wrong way hit Ranallo and Cook’s pickup truck. Ranallo survived but underwent multiple surgeries and remains hospitalized at JPS Hospital in Fort Worth. Cook died at the scene. Summerfield stayed with her daughter’s fiancé while she recovered from her surgeries.

“It feels unfair, so unfair,” Summerfield said. “He was such a light, anyone who knew him will tell you. He was just the biggest personality, totally extroverted, a theater kid. He had a lot of work to do.”

The couple was just starting to live together. Ranallo had proposed to Cook in New Mexico just a few weeks before the crash.

“Even before we got engaged, she was like a sister to us, she was such a light in our family and gave us so much joy and fun,” said Rachel Ranallo, Evan’s sister. “It was hard, and I felt even more sorry for Evan because this was the love of his life.”

Ranallo and Cook’s friends and family are coming together to support each other through this tragedy.

“You know, our family’s promise to Chelsea is that we’re not going to curl up in a ball and give up and let this destroy us,” Summerfield said.

Families are also grappling with the fact that they may never know why the driver went the wrong way on Loop 820. A family of four, including two children, also died in the accident.

“Like everyone else, we made a lot of assumptions that these people were drunk or that they were very young, and we were really shocked to find out that this was a family with two young kids. That definitely kind of made everything worse,” Summerfield said.

Fort Worth Police are still working to determine what caused the driver to enter the highway the wrong way.

Families now hope their tragedy will be a reminder to other drivers.

“Be careful, make the right decisions, think about what you can do. (This) can affect not only your family, but many other families as well,” Summerfield said.

Evan’s band “So Long Good Night” will hold a benefit concert where all proceeds will be donated to Ranallo and Cook’s families. The concert will be held at Hurst on December 14th.

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