Community rallies around family of plane crash victims in Prince William

Update

Mike Lovitt, owner and operator of the Chick-fil-a in Bristow spoke with the Selke family following the news of the Germanwings plane crash on Tuesday , to express his condolences and offer community support.

“I spoke with the son…I was surprised to get through…They were very grateful for the support, and I offered to be of assistance if they needed anything.”

According to Lovitt, the family is coping and is doing the best they can after the loss of Yvonne and Emily Selke, who were among the 150 passengers on the flight.

Original post

Emily Selke, a recent college graduate, dedicated scholar and active sorority member was among the 150 passengers that perished on the Germanwings flight on Tuesday.

Selke, who was on board the plane with her mother Yvonne Selke, was a graduate of Woodbridge Senior High School and Drexel University.

“Emily was a student at Woodbridge [Senior] High School. She was honored in 2010, as having achieved summa cum laude status…which means she’s very highly accomplished and had a minimum grade point average of 4.0…she went on to Drexel University after that,” said Phil Kavits, Communications Director for Prince William County Schools.

In addition to her scholarly pursuits, Selke was very active in the Gamma Sigma Sigma Zeta sorority chapter at Drexel University during her college years.

“Emily served as our membership VP while in Zeta and she was an integral part of our growing chapter. She embodied the spirit of Gamma Sigma Sigma. As a person and friend, Emily always put others before herself and cared deeply for all those in her life. Emily will be greatly missed by her fellow sisters of Zeta,” the sorority chapter said in a released statement.

Other community members have reached out to express their condolences and support for the Selke family, including Delegate Scott Lingamfelter.

“I want to express my profound condolences to the Selke family in this time of great sadness. This is a shocking tragedy that no family could ever be prepared for, and I cannot fathom the sorrow that must be felt by those who knew Yvonne and Emily. My prayers are with Yvonne and Emily’s family and friends,” Lingamfelter said in a release, continuing, “This is a sad day for the Prince William community, and I would ask that fellow citizens join me in prayer for the Selke family in their time of mourning.”

The facts related to the crash are still being investigated.

This morning reports came out that stated that the co-pilot may have deliberately crashed the plane, which was flying from Spain to Germany, into the French Alps.

According to coverage from the Washington Post, the recovered cockpit audio indicated that the pilot of the flight was locked out of the cockpit before the plane descended and crashed into the French Alps.

Additionally, the report states that the co-pilot made no response to the pilot banging on the door to be let back into the cockpit.

The Washington Post stated that there were no known links between the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, and any terrorist groups. The investigation into the cause of the crash and the circumstances leading up to it is still open.