A small bit of peace rose out of the ashes of a tragic situation in Columbus, Georgia, on Tuesday, after a homeless woman was struck by a car and killed.
As Mary Alice Gleghorn, 65, lay bloodied and lifeless on the ground, a group of residents who rushed to try and help gathered around her in prayer — a moment that Sarah Lawrence, 29, described as “just a little beauty that came out of a very sad situation.”
The prayer circle took form after one of the women who approached told the group assembled around Gleghorn’s body that she didn’t know what they believed, but that she wanted to join together in appealing to God, the Ledger-Enquirer reported.
“Can we all just say a prayer?” the woman asked, and, according to Lawrence, no one wasted any time in answering affirmatively.
“We came together in a circle and prayed,” Lawrence explained. “I felt peace about the circle, with the woman next to me, the people around me.”
The accident unfolded early on Tuesday morning, with a report from The Muscogee County Coroner’s Office stating that Gleghorn died from blunt force trauma to her head, WRBL-TV reported.
So far, family members have not yet been located, with the coroner’s office attempting to find loved ones via media; they are hoping that releasing the woman’s name — which they initially refrained from doing — will help accomplish that goal.
The driver has also not been charged, with police saying that Gleghorn wasn’t in a designated crosswalk.