E-Paper
Mackenzie Shirilla Halloween costumes return to focus as dad's tee-shirt during The Crash interview draws backlash
In a recent interview, Mackenzie Shirilla's dad wore a 'BOOM' shirt while discussing the crash that killed two, amid resurfaced Halloween photos.
Convicted Ohio teen Mackenzie Shirilla is in the headlines again after photos of her controversial Halloween costumes resurfaced on social media. Simultaneously, her father is receiving backlash for his clothing choice during a recent interview featured in The Crash, the documentary on the deadly 2022 incident.
Screenshots from the documentary show Shirilla’s father wearing a shirt with the word “BOOM” across the front while discussing the crash that killed Dominic Russo and Davion Flanagan.
The Daily Mail has also brought to light Shirilla’s Halloween costume photos that were taken after the crash. The images showed Shirilla dressed as a corpse just months after the fatal collision.
Halloween costume photos resurface amid documentary noise
The resurfaced Halloween photos added another layer to the controversy.
The Daily Mail reported that Shirilla dressed as a corpse for Halloween, roughly three months after the fatal crash.
On July 31, 2022, Mackenzie, who was 17 at the time, crashed a car at 100 mph into the side of a building in Strongsville, Ohio. Dominic Russo, her boyfriend, and Davion Flanagan, his friend, were in the vehicle. The two lads were instantaneously dead. She barely made it out alive.
She described it as an accident and that she would always mourn them both.
However, just twelve weeks later, on October 31st, Mackenzie, who had just turned 18 and had fully healed from her injuries, was prepared to celebrate.
Encouraged by her parents, who told her she deserved some "fun," she went out with her friends, dressing up in a hotel room before posing in parking lots in the infamous Halloween pictures.
The parents of her victims were shocked by the attire she chose.
The outlet noted that the images were evidence of what some viewed as a lack of remorse following the deaths of Russo and Flanagan.
Flanagan's mother told the outlet, "She thought she was going to get away with it. 'They’re in a hotel room, having fun... there was just no remorse. We remember thinking “what were we dealing with here?”
Read more: Who are Mackenzie Shirilla's parents Steve and Natalie? Inside the Ohio woman's family
Dad's shirt is the "craziest part" of the documentary
A post on X shared a screenshot of Shirilla's dad during an interview where he is seen wearing a T-shirt with boom written on it.
“Mackenzie Shirilla’s dad wearing a shirt that says ‘BOOM’ while being interviewed about the crash in which his daughter killed 2 people is the craziest part of this whole show,” the post read.
Some users accused the filmmakers of failing to notice the messaging before airing the interview. Netizens on X labelled the action “appalling” and “nasty work.”
One of the comments read, "They constantly made excuses for her bad behavior, never punished her, always believed her even when she got suspended from school for bullying, & her mom said one of the victims was a "new friend" when the judge called her out on not caring about the victims."
“Her parents are tone deaf and stupid,” another comment read.
