NAPPANEE, Ind. — UPDATE 11:13 a.m. EDT Aug. 4: The Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office issued a correction in an update Thursday on the accident that killed U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski Wednesday afternoon. In the updated statement posted on Facebook, investigatiors found that it was the car Walorski was riding in going northbound that veered out of its lane into the center lane and hit the oncoming vehicle going southbound head-on in what proved to be a deadly collision.
The updated statement said that Zachary Potts was the driver of the vehicle in which Walorski was an occupant. Edith Schmucker, 56, was the southbound driver. All occupants were wearing seatbelts and airbags did deploy, according to investigators.
In total four people were killed, including Schmucker and the three occupants in the northbound vehicle that included the congresswoman.
The preliminary statement issued by the sheriff’s office on Wednesday had indicated the southbound driver was the one who veered out of their lane and caused the deadly accident.
Read the original report below:
U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski was one of four people killed in a crash in northern Indiana on Wednesday, authorities said. She was 58.
Walorski, a Republican who has represented Indiana’s 2nd congressional district since 2013, was a passenger in an SUV traveling southbound in Nappanee at about 12:40 p.m. EDT when the vehicle collided with a northbound vehicle that veered left of the center line, according to a news release from the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office.
All three occupants in the southbound vehicle died as a result of their injuries, and the driver of the northbound vehicle died at the scene, the sheriff’s office said.
In addition to Walorski, of Elkhart, the people killed in the SUV were Zachery Potts, 27, of Mishawaka and Emma Thomson, 28, of Washington, D.C., The Goshen News reported.
The sole occupant of the northbound vehicle was identified as Edith Schmucker, 56, of Nappanee, according to the newspaper.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted a statement “with a heavy heart” from Walorski’s office.
“Please keep her family in your thoughts and prayers,” the statement read, adding that there would be no further comment from the representative’s office.
It is with a heavy heart that I am sharing this statement from the Office of Congresswoman Jackie Walorski. pic.twitter.com/UEPoKBDf5N
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPLeader) August 3, 2022
Adam Kinzinger, a U.S. representative from Illinois, called Walorski “a good and honorable public servant.”
“My heart is heavy, and I don’t have the words,” Kinzinger tweeted.
Walorski, who was born in South Bend, served on the House Ways and Means Committee, according to The Associated Press. Before her election to Congress, she served three terms in the Indiana Legislature.
My heart is heavy, and i don’t have the words. But all I can say is prayers for her family. She was a good and honorable public servant.
— Adam Kinzinger🇺🇦🇺🇸✌️ (@AdamKinzinger) August 3, 2022
Rep. Jackie Walorski, two others killed in crash https://t.co/DYPCY3DEHU
She and her husband were missionaries in Romania, where they established a foundation that provided food and medical supplies to impoverished children, according to the AP. She worked as a television news reporter in South Bend before transitioning to politics.
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