[Photo: Tristen Little when he played basketball for the Bucks. (Contributed Photo)]

A young Hoke High graduate was killed and one of his classmates was injured in a car accident Monday night, according to the North Carolina Highway Patrol.

Tristen Little, 19, a well-known former student athlete of the Hoke High Class of 2020, died after the car he was riding in crashed and caught fire. Joshua Savage, 19, a fellow Class of 2020 graduate and Bucks student athlete, was also transported to the hospital after the wreck.

The accident happened just after 8 p.m. Monday, May 3 on June Johnson Road, according to a report from the Highway Patrol. Savage was driving a 2021 Dodge with Little in the car as a passenger, the report stated.

The vehicle ran off the road to the right, struck a tree, continued traveling on the shoulder of the road and struck a second tree. The vehicle caught fire after the collision and came to rest against the second tree.

Emergency responders transported Little and Savage to Cape Fear Valley hospital, but Little died from his injuries.

Little was a multi-sport athlete in his years at Hoke High, where he played basketball and football for the Bucks. After graduation he attended Johnson C. Smith University, according to his Facebook page.

Obituary information was not yet available. Shavonda Kershaw-Gibbs posted a statement for the family on social media.

“On behalf of Shameka And Curtis Little, we would like to thank you all for you prayers and concern during this time. Due to Covid and the safety of everyone, we will be limiting visitation to family only. We thank you all so much for understanding, and please continue to keep us in your prayers,” she wrote.