Eight people died in a fiery wreck Sunday night in Franklin County, Kansas, about an hour south of Kansas City, along U.S. Highway 169 near its intersection with Virginia Road, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol. This Google Maps image shows the area in October 2024.
Google Maps screenshot Multiple victims killed in a crash south of Kansas City Sunday evening were connected to a youth basketball team from Oklahoma, a state representative from Tulsa has confirmed to The Star. Eight people were killed and another person was critically injured in the two-vehicle crash in Franklin County, the Kansas Highway Patrol said.
The highway patrol has not yet publicly released the identities of those killed, and has said the incident remains under investigation. Two vehicles were involved in the crash along U.S. Highway 169 near its intersection with Virginia Road around 5:45 p.m., Kansas Highway Patrol Technical Trooper Jodi Clary said in an email to The Star.
Both vehicles caught fire, and eight people were confirmed dead, Clary said. One person was taken to a hospital in critical condition, Clary said. State Rep. Ron Stewart, of Tulsa, identified four of the victims in the crash and said they were connected to an Amateur Athletic Union basketball team. Two of those killed — Donald “DJ” Laster and Kyrin “Ace” Gilstrap — were youths, and the other two — Wayne Walls and Jaimon Gilstrap — were coaches, he said. Jaimon Gilstrap was Kyrin Gilstrap’s father, he said.
“They were well-connected as people and as coaches and as students,” Stewart said. “It’s definitely felt across the community.” ‘It weighs heavy’ Stewart said he had the pleasure of watching Laster grow as an athlete and as a young man through sports and at the Tulsa church they both attended. As a freshman this year at Booker T. Washington High School, Laster was part of a state title-winning basketball team in March.
At Easter, he’d been baptized at their church. “I got to see him grow even in his spiritual journey as a young man, witness him make some choices in life that would make any parents proud, I know his parents are proud of him,” Stewart said. “It was a pretty mighty blow to lose him.” Stewart said he is hoping for answers on what happened in the crash as he and others in Tulsa community try to process the sudden blow. “To see (Laster) and those other young men in that accident have their lives cut short,” Stewart said, “it weighs heavy.”