US congresswoman among four dead in car crash
A US congresswoman and three others have been killed in a car crash in the state of Indiana.
Republican Jackie Walorski died in what police say was a head-on collision in Elkhart County at around 12.30pm on Wednesday.
Ms Walorski, 58, had represented Indiana’s 2nd congressional district since 2012.
Police say a northbound passenger car travelled left of the centre line and collided head-on with a southbound SUV.
The Elkhart County Coroner’s Office and the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office are conducting the investigation.
Ms Walorski’s communications director, Emma Thomson, 27, and Zachery Potts, 28, a district director for the
lawmaker, were also killed, the sheriff’s office confirmed.
The driver of the other vehicle, 56-year-old Edith Schmucker, was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Fellow Indiana Republican congressman Jim Banks described Ms Walorski as his “dear friend and one of the greatest public servants I’ve ever known”.
He added: “Everything Jackie did was to serve others. She had a heart of gold, and I will miss her dearly.”
Ms Walorski and her husband were previously missionaries in Romania, where they established a foundation that provided food and medical supplies to impoverished children.
She worked as a TV news reporter in South Bend before her turn to politics.
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, a Democrat who previously served as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, wrote on Twitter: “Though we came from very different places politically, she was always prepared to work together where there was common ground.”
Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House, said in a statement that Ms Walorski “passionately brought the voices of her north Indiana constituents to the Congress, and she was admired by colleagues on both sides of the aisle for her personal kindness.”
