Piedmont Mayor Jen Cavanaugh hugged residents during the city’s annual Thanksgiving Turkey Trot walk as the small community struggled to make sense of the devastating crash that killed three young residents early Wednesday morning.

“I’d rather be here with my community,” Cavanaugh said Thursday shortly after leading the crowd in a moment of silence before the nearly three-mile race.

Her comments came a day after three Piedmont residents were killed and another injured in a fiery crash of a Tesla Cybertruck. Police officials said they are investigating the cause of the crash, but speed may have played a role.

A motorist driving behind the Cybertruck helped pull out the fourth occupant, who was hospitalized with serious injuries, officials said. When police arrived, the Cybertruck was engulfed in flames, twice the height of the vehicle.

None of the four youths in the Cybertruck have been identified, but they were all 2023 Piedmont High School graduates and college sophomores, according to ABC-7. Three died on the spot.

The mood at the Turkey Trot on Thursday was mostly somber. The race route was changed because the original route passed the home of one of the victims, said Chris Smith, a member of the Turkey Trot board of directors.

Wednesday “was a very difficult day for this community,” Smith said, adding that people donated 1,500 flowers for the memorial placed at the crash site near Hampton Road and King Avenue.

Skyler Liu, 25, said the crash was “very tragic” and personal — her parents knew the parents of the young people who died.

Liu, who was visiting her parents from Portland, ran the race on Thursday and had to jog past the monument.

“There seems to be more people absent today than usual,” she said.

After the race, a man stood with his eyes closed in front of the monument, a charred tree full of flowers. He waited a few minutes before placing his hand on the tree and walking away. He declined to speak to a reporter.

Near the finish of the race, Sophie Reynolds, 26, said the crash had affected all residents of the small town.

“Our community is so small that everyone knows everyone. It affects everyone,” Reynolds said of the East Bay city of only about 10,000 residents.

Chad Baldwin, a Piedmont resident, waited at the finish line to watch his 15-year-old son finish the race. Baldwin, 51, said his 18-year-old son, who was asleep during the race, knew the people who died. Baldwin said he and his wife sat their children down and talked to them about safe driving.

“It’s easy to think things like this don’t happen here,” Baldwin said. “It’s unbelievable. It’s hard to fathom.”

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