BYRON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Lanterns lit the evening sky over Byron Center Wednesday in a beautiful display to honor a 17-year-old girl killed in a car crash last week.

“She’s going to look down on this and be the happiest girl, I think. This was incredible,” Amanda Smaby remembered her friend Sydney Carfine.

The crash happened shortly after 11 p.m. Friday at the intersection of Chicago Drive and 18th Street in Georgetown Township. Police say Carfine went through a flashing red light, at which point her car was broadsided by a truck hauling a trailer. Carfine died at the hospital.

She would have been a senior in high school this fall.

“She was always just a great young lady. She was always caring about other people,” Smaby said. “She’ll always be one of my best friends. Really sad, but I know that she’s in a better place now.”

Smaby was among a group of hundreds who gathered at Byron Center West Middle School for Wednesday’s vigil.

“A large group of people that were just in love with the person who was in love with the world,” said Dan Neymeiyer, Carfine’s friend and mentor.