A 10-year-old Marion County public school student was struck by a car and killed early Wednesday morning as he walked to a bus stop.

Ja’siah Williams was in the fifth grade at Reddick-Collier Elementary.

A crisis team of grief counselors were sent to the school. They talked with students, school bus drivers and aides. The bus had been approaching the stop when the car struck Ja’siah.

Ja’siah Williams. Photo: MCPS

School officials say the boy’s mother was with him but was not hit.

The accident occurred shortly before 7 a.m. on rural County Road 318, west of I-75. It was dark at the time.

Florida Highway Patrol investigators say the boy was walking on the side of the road and, when oncoming traffic had cleared, began walking across it. A driver coming behind the boy tried to avoid hitting him but could not.