An 8-year-old New Jersey boy who was featured on The Tonight Show for his jump rope skills was killed Saturday afternoon after he was hit by a Jeep as he walked home from a fundraiser for his award-winning group.
Jeremiah “Jerry” Grant was the youngest member of the Honey Bees, a Jersey City-based double dutch team that appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s talk show in August. Now, the troupe is mourning the loss of the little boy they called “Prince Bee.”
“We all stopped at the corner and Jerry heard ‘go’ from another jumper and ran in the street,” Honey Bees founder Takeria Clark told The Jersey Journal. “The car was going so fast. It hit him so hard.”
Jeremiah was with a few other members when he was struck near Christopher Columbus Drive and Grove street at around 4:30 p.m., the Journal reports.
He was taken to Jersey City Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, according to WNBC. The driver, a 60-year-old Union City, initially kept driving after the incident, apparently unaware that he had hit the boy, WNBC reports.
Several people ran after the vehicle.
“I jumped on the street, went after the car. I was able to stop him and let him know he had to stop because he hit somebody,” Jose Pimentel told the station. “He said he thought he went over a book bag. He didn’t notice that he had hit a person.”
No charges had been filed against the driver as of Sunday, according to NJ.com and sources close to the investigation reportedly told the site that speed did not immediately appear to be a factor in the boy’s death.
The tragedy comes just two months after Jeremiah and the rest of the black and yellow clad group appeared on the show hosted by Jimmy Fallon.
The troupe stunned the crowd and video footage of the appearance showed little Jeremiah jumping around and clapping before flipping out of the pair of jump ropes.
A YouCaring page has been set up to benefit Jeremiah’s family.
This article originally appeared on People.
