A little boy who wanted to be a basketball player when he grew up and had just graduated kindergarten. A clever, kind middle schooler who was the pride of his tightly-knit neighbourhood.

Loved ones of each of the boys were sure they were bound for bright futures. But family and friends in their Mississauga community were left reeling Tuesday after the boys were killed in a gruesome car crash on the weekend.

Keziah Edwards-Young, 13, and his nephew Ayon Brown, 5, died on the way to the hospital after the car they were in collided with another vehicle on Winston Churchill Blvd. near the Queen Elizabeth Way late Sunday night.

Keziah’s sister, Ayon’s mother, Lekeisha Edwards-Smith, was seriously hurt in the crash. The car was driven by Ayon’s father 24-year-old Camall Brown-Williams, who sustained minor injuries.

A friend of the family, Simone Wellington, 38, said Keziah’s mother is in shock, with even the sight of Ayon’s toys scattered around the house sending her spiraling into new depths of grief. Her friend lost both a son and a grandson.

“She just kept saying, ‘My two, my two boys,’” said Wellington.

“It just plays in my head all the time.”

Wellington lives a few doors down from Ayon and Keziah’s home. Keziah was like one of her children — a kind boy who’d often help Wellington with her bags when she came home.

“He didn’t talk much but he always had this big smile,” she said.

“He had a bright future. He was a smart kid in school.”

Keziah loved basketball, video games and riding bikes on the trails near his house. He would have graduated from middle school next year, said Wellington.

Ayon was always laughing, she said. His teachers at the Westpark Daycare Centre in Mississauga said he announced he wanted to be a basketball player at his kindergarten graduation last week — an occasion his proud father filmed from the back of the classroom.

“He was more of a leader,” said Sonia Abbas, the executive director of the daycare, adding that many of the staff had red, swollen eyes Tuesday morning. “He seemed to have a strong mind. He knew what he wanted.”

Twin bouquets of red and white roses were leaned against the front steps of the family’s home Tuesday. Three bikes lay against a tree in the front yard, one of them child-sized and painted a bright, exuberant orange.

A flag outside Erin Mills Middle School, where Keziah was a student, was at half-mast Tuesday. A memorial will be held in the school library, and the Peel District School Board said grief counselors would be on-hand for support.

Neighbourhood kids are rallying together to support Keziah’s older brother, said Wellington. The adults, meanwhile, are trying to raise money for his mother through a GoFundMe campaign.

Edwards-Smith was initially taken to hospital in critical condition after the crash. Wellington said a surgery went well and she is doing better, but doesn’t yet know her son has died.

“(They) never even experienced life,” Wellington said.

“It’s not fair... Just two wonderful kids gone too soon.”

Police say a silver Mazda, driven by 40-year-old Canville Roberts, was travelling southbound when it crossed the centre median and crashed into the family’s car.

The driver and only passenger of the Mazda, Roberts, died at the scene.

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The fifth passenger in the family’s car, Jynnai Hartley, 7, was taken to a trauma centre and remains in stable condition. Police said Hartley is Edwards-Smith’s goddaughter.

With files from Bryann Aguilar and Alanna Rizza

Correction – June 29, 2017: This article was edited from a previous version that misspelled Lekeisha Edwards-Smith’s given name.

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