Car crash kills Clark Atlanta University student

Atlanta University student is dead and now a driver is facing serious charges. Atlanta police report the victim was involved in a crash on Hank Aaron Drive in Glen Street before midnight Tuesday. News reporter Annie Mapp is live there with more. And Annie, police think speed may have been a factor here. Christine, good evening. Investigators accuse a man of driving too fast and causing the crash that killed 21-year-old Clark Atlanta student Morgan Gamble, her loved one, saying she didn't deserve to die so young. We're just so proud, so proud of her. Not sure why it had to end so soon. Morgan Gamble was known across the Clark Atlanta University campus for her ambition and style. She wanted so much for herself and for others. The 21-year-old tragically died after Atlanta police say a driver identified as Nikolai Dunford hit her car on Hank Aaron Drive near Glen Street. Police accused Dunford of speeding. We understand. What are you thinking? You know, in a residential commercial area like that. Medics rushed Morgan to an area hospital, but unfortunately she died from her injuries. The suspect now faces several charges that include speeding, reckless driving, and first-degree homicide by vehicle. Lost for words. Just doesn't seem real to me, honestly. Those closest to the Clark Atlanta students say she dreamed of graduating and working on television. She recently got a chance to work on a Netflix series called A Different World. Morgan wanted to be a film producer, and that's what she has been doing since she laid foot on Clark Atlanta's campus. She also enjoyed mentoring younger film enthusiasts. Students and staff at Clark Atlanta are also feeling heartbreak from the loss. There was just such an authenticity about her that was just second to none. When I learned of her passing, I was numb. And then I had to share the news with my staff. That was very difficult and painful. Yeah, and Clark Atlanta University did put out a statement following this tragedy, just sharing their condolences with Morgan's family, friends, and with her classmates as well. Her loved ones tell me they plan to start a media scholarship in her honor. Reporting live in Atlanta, Annie Mapp, Fox 5 News. Sounds like she had so much promise. Your heart breaks for that family. Thanks so much Annie, we do have breaking news now out of Newton County firefighters are on the scene of a home explosion, these are live pictures from Bethany Road, this is as close as officials are letting our crew get, details are limited right now but we do know crews say that this involves potentially hazardous materials we're going to find out if anyone was hurt any other details So keep it here on Fox 5 for any more updates. It's been almost a year since a house fire killed a man in Paulding County. Tonight, we hear from his wife about the battle she is now fighting. You can listen to Fox 5 Live on the Fox 5 Radio 1 network. Just tune your HD radio to 107.9 HD 2 FM. You can settle this one. Let's talk weather now. Meteorologist Jonathan Stacey got a little more of the same today with lots of sunshine. It was a nice day. It was a really nice day, and its sunshine from beginning till end, not a cloud in the sky, and the temperatures just had their way. Starting out nice and cool in the morning, and then by the afternoon, the heat is on, and we're going to do it all over again, at least for two more days. And then big changes are in store for the weekend, but there has been a war on records over the past 48 hours. Yesterday, we shattered a record. Today, we tied a record that of 87 degrees set back in 1940. we were able to match that. Tomorrow we could once again break a record. As we pull out the almanac, you can see the numbers there. 87, the high temperature today, 11 degrees above average. The record, once again, 1940 of 87 degrees matched out in Huntsville-Jackson. As we take a look at the here and now across the entire southeastern United States and going up into the Ohio Valley and the mid-Atlantic, temperatures are still in the 70s at this late hour. We're just about 40 minutes away from midnight and we're at 75 degrees. Norfolk, Virginia, come across to Nashville, Tennessee, still close to 80 degrees. 72 here in Atlanta tonight is shaping up to be a fairly nice night. No clouds in the sky. Winds have stood still. But a bit of a southwesterly flow tomorrow is going to try to push this number higher. And that is the dew point temperature. Low to mid 60s we can deal with. high 60s and certainly 70s, it means that the air is getting fairly sultry. Hopefully we can avoid that. After all, we do have one component that adds to the sweltering heat, and that is the high heat. Not by morning, but by afternoon. We'll start out in the 60s tomorrow morning. That's Thursday. 55 is where we should be, but forget about that. I think 50s are shut out for tomorrow and 60s and 70s, well, they're going to move through in a flash. By afternoon, it's all about the 80s. Just how high will we go into the 80s? Well it depends on your location. Mountains it looks like you'll make the mid 80s. Down south metro area we're definitely going towards 90 degrees. Will we make it? We'll just have to watch the mercury ever so closely. I think you can do it there in Eaton. Rome I think you can probably do it as well. Atlanta we'll see how it goes here. It's all brought to us by this area of high pressure. It's moved off coast and I was telling you about that southwesterly wind if we can pick up on some of that air coming in from the Atlantic and also wrapping around this area of high pressure from the Gulf that sends moisture into North Georgia it has to travel but if it can make it here it can make the afternoon have a bit of a sting or a sizzle to it but once again this is only short-lived because big changes are coming our way as we get into the weekend here's your Fox 5 storm team seven day forecast let's go with 89 tomorrow the record stands at 86 degrees i think we got that covered the record for friday that's a little bit tighter there the record is 85 86 is our forecast and then the big drop happens friday night going into saturday those winds get really hyped and by sunday morning we're down into the 40s area wide with 30s and frost likely developing in the mountains a slow moderation as we get into next week we'll take a look at those wind chills before we leave here all right Jonathan, thanks so much. Developing tonight, a woman who survived a fatal fire that killed her husband and pet is talking publicly for the first time. Her battle for survival is not over. Newsnet reporter Kevin Stewart is in Dallas in Paulding County with her story. Susan Wood remembers this day almost a year ago, her home burning for five hours. It started in the fireplace. The smoke got so thick that I couldn't breathe. I thought, well if I could go outside and call for neighbors to come and help me that they could help me get my husband out. But it was too late she lost her wheelchair-bound husband and pet dog in this blaze and spent the next three months in the hospital. I was in bad shape and I had to go on a ventilator in the burn unit. I said let me die just let me die I don't I don't want to live I want to go be with my husband. My hands were so burnt that I had to have skin grafts on my hands. That was excruciating. And I burnt my back. I burnt my feet. I burnt my head. And then she learned the smoke led to kidney damage. She is now in kidney failure. I thought, why did God let this happen to me? If God got me out, why did he give me this? Wood, who is 73 years old and a retired nurse, remains active, and gets regular dialysis. She is among a growing number of senior citizens needing a kidney transplant. In fact, according to Duke Health, transplants for folks 65 and up jumped six-fold since 2020. She's still searching for a living donor. Because I want to live my life. I want to go on, and I want to live my life. I want to be able to play with my grandsons. I have a lot of life left in me. I've been thinking about maybe going back to work. So yeah, because I'm not done yet. Kevin Stewart, Fox 5 News. She says her family allowed her to keep building and getting stronger and now this. If you want to help her, we have information on how you can on our website on fox5atlanta.com. A dramatic crash in Acworth caught on camera. Look at this. Police say last night an 82-year-old man lost control of his van downtown and then landed like this. It appears his van was suspended in midair, but it was actually wedged between a retaining wall and a townhome. First responders pulled the man from the van and took him to the hospital. Thankfully, he is expected to be OK. Investigators say they're still working to learn more. Early voting for the midterm election started yesterday. The turnout numbers from day one.