'We knew he was great': Parents of Fraser teacher killed in hit-and-run mourn their loss

The parents of a 23-year-old social studies teacher at Fraser High School who was left for dead in a hit-and-run are heartbroken about the final moments of their son's life.

Connor McMahon was changing a flat tire on the side of Interstate 94 near Eight Mile when he was struck by a car around 10:20 p.m. Tuesday.

Authorities pronounced him dead at the scene, but the driver of the vehicle that hit him had fled on foot. Harper Woods Police later reported that they had arrested a 25-year-old Clinton Township woman believed to be the driver.

"She left my son lying on I-94," Corey McMahon said of the driver suspected of hitting his son.

His parents said McMahon's flashers were on, and he was changing his tire on the shoulder side of his own vehicle.

Kathleen McMahon said she is glad the other driver was apprehended and hopes there will be some kind of consequence.

The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office has authorized charges in connection to the incident, including operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death, failing to stop at the scene of a crash resulting in impairment or death and assaulting, resisting and obstructing a police officer causing injury. The suspect in the hit-and-run is in police custody and will be arraigned Saturday, according to the Michigan State Police. Her name has not yet been released.

Connor McMahon was on his way home from a rained-out Detroit Tigers game at Comerica Park. He was about to begin his sixth summer as a counselor at the Recreation Authority of Roseville and Eastpointe's day camp and the group had organized a staff bonding experience, said his parents, Corey and Kathleen McMahon.

Corey McMahon, 53, said his son was inclusive and made those around him feel like they were his best friend. He kept in touch with friends from elementary school all the way up through college, when Connor attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

"He was just the best we could ask for," he said. "He put himself through the University of Michigan, got his teaching certificate, and (was) hired back in with his alma mater, and he couldn't have been happier."

Michael Lipinski, 25, had worked with McMahon as a counselor at the summer day camp since 2018, and the two were roommates at the University of Michigan, where they attended many UM sporting events together.

"He got season tickets, and he would wait outside to be one of the first in line to get into the (basketball) games. He was always dedicated to whatever he did," Lipinski said. "If a new video game console came out, he was camping outside the GameStop the night before."

Lipinski and McMahon also shared a love for classic rock or "dad music," Lipinski said. The two performed "I'm Still Standing" in karaoke for their campers one summer and went to see Elton John at Comerica Park last year.

Connor was "totally dedicated to teaching," and loved his job, his father said. He decided to become a teacher at an early age, inspired by one of his own Fraser High School teachers.

"He was so prepared he would spend four hours a night working on lesson plans for the next day," McMahon said. "He was going to be the teacher that made a difference, the teacher that taught in a different way than just presenting a class book and reading out of it."

Connor would do anything to get his students' attention, working in anything from "SpongeBob" to "Happy Days" to make lessons fun, according to his father.

"He loved his life, and he had fun," Kathleen McMahon said. "He dressed a little goofy, he loved wearing these button-up shirts that had different patterns. ... He'd either wear Spider-Man or Marvel or Star Wars."

McMahon had just been chosen to lead a mentorship program at Fraser High School in the fall and was going to undergo training for it this summer, Kathleen McMahon said.

Connor would do "anything to help out the school," his father added. "He brought energy, he put smiles on people's faces, and he was going to be perfect in that role," Corey McMahon said.

Lipinski, McMahon's long-time friend, said he always put a smile on the camper's faces. They took the campers on field trips, played games and one summer even organized a color run.

"It's very apparent that he was meant to be a teacher and meant to work with kids," Lipinski said. "He was just the center of it all, and he loved every minute of it."

McMahon had a penchant for movies, particularly the Marvel superhero franchise, and even introduced himself to his class on the first day of school in a video dressed as Spider-Man.

"If somebody told you that I was some average, happy-go-lucky teacher without a care in the world, that I was like any other teacher you've ever had, then somebody lied," Connor McMahon told his students in a video on the first day of school. "But my story, like any other good story worth telling, is just about somebody who wanted to be greater and make a difference."

More:Extra support available for Fraser High students, staff following teacher's death

McMahon graduated from UM with a degree in secondary education in 2021 and was very proud to have put himself through college on his own using scholarships and grants, his mother Kathleen said. He was planning to return to UM to get a master's degree in the future.

He grew up in Roseville, the fourth generation in his family to do so, and has one younger brother Carter who is a rising senior at Fraser High School.

"We'd go to parent-teacher conferences and the teachers were talking about both of my sons. ... They were best friends," Corey McMahon said. "They loved playing video games together, they both had shoe collections, they both love sports."

The family has been emotionally and physically drained during the tear-filled days since learning about Connor's death, said Corey McMahon, who hasn't been able to eat or sleep.

"It's an indescribable heaviness that you kind of feel on yourself. It's just like a sadness that's like a weighted blanket on you that you just can't stop, you can't take it off," Kathleen McMahon said.

McMahon's parents said they have also been overwhelmed by the support shown for their son on social media.

"It's very comforting to know that he was appreciated," Kathleen McMahon said. "We knew he was great and all, but we're his parents, and I was glad to see you know, that beyond our house, he was the same everywhere he went."

A GoFundMe has been started to raise money for McMahon's funeral services, and his parents said they plan to start a scholarship at Fraser High School with the rest of the funds.

"We're hoping to at least start something at the school that he was teaching at so that he can give back to the kids because that's all he ever wanted to do," Kathleen McMahon said.

hmackay@detroitnews.com