A North Carolina Amtrak train collision involving a sports utility vehicle took the life of a pastor and his wife who apparently drove around a lowered crossing gate.
Authorities said that about 2:20 p.m. Sunday, the SUV Eugene and Dorothy Lyons were in bypassed the lowered crossing arm and went into the path of the oncoming Amtrak train in Whitakers, North Carolina, WNCN-TV reported, killing both at the scene.
Whitakers Police Chief Darrell Cofield told WNCN-TV that police are not sure why the driver, who appeared to be Dorothy Lyons, went around the crossing arm, but Cofield said a witness confirmed it.
"It bothered me because growing up here I've seen train wrecks before, it really touches close to home with people who grew up with and know," Cofield told WNCN-TV.
Amtrak Train 89, the Palmetto, was traveling from New York City to Savannah, Georgia, Amtrak officials told the television station. No one on the Amtrak train was injured, the Rocky Mount Telegram reported.
"Service has been temporarily suspended as local law enforcement investigates the incident," Kimberly Woods, an Amtrak spokeswoman, told WNCN-TV.
The Christian Post reported that Lyons led the Messiah Baptist Church in Whitakers. Kymari Garrett told the website that Lyons was a bivocational minister who he worked at an OVC distribution center, but he had planned to retire so he could preach fulltime.
"We (were) talking Wednesday about him retiring and going into full time ministry, on the things he wanted to accomplish," Garrett told the Post. "This has just bothered me so bad that this happened to an awesome anointed man of faith.
"This is a very hard pill to swallow. Prayers for their family and the church family. We talked about Heaven and God so much at work it was unbelievable. … I'm still in disbelief about this whole situation. The last conversation we had at work Saturday at 4:25 was a life giving conversation that I will never forget."
Many shared their condolences on Facebook and Twitter.
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