Pickup careens over ramp wall onto Georgia interstate, killing 5 teens, injuring 3 others
A pickup truck careened over a wall and landed on its roof along a Georgia interstate on Monday, killing all five teenagers inside, police said.
The 4 a.m. Labor Day crash happened on the westbound ramp of State Route 316 to southbound Interstate 85 in Gwinnett County, part of the Atlanta metro area.
The wreck involved the pickup and two cars, Gwinnett County police Sgt. Michele Pihera told USA TODAY.
Police said they responded to the scene after getting 911 calls about a vehicle going over the wall of a raised ramp and falling onto the I-85 southbound collector-distributor road to Pleasant Hill Road.
At the scene, Gwinnett County firefighters pronounced five people dead and transported three other people to local hospitals for non life-threatening injuries, Pihera said.
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Police ID five teens killed
Police identified the dead as: Katy Gaitan, 17, Ashley Gaitan, 16, Coral Lorenzo, 17, Hung Nguyen ,18, and Abner Santana, 19.
Pihera said all five teens were in the pickup that went over the ramp wall.
Three of the victims attended Lakeside High School in DeKalb County, police said.
Details about the other three victims were not immediately provided by police.
The crash shut down parts of State Route 316 and I-85 for several hours on Labor Day. The roadway was reopened to traffic on Tuesday.
Neither Lakeside High School nor the DeKalb County School District immediately returned calls for comment Tuesday morning.
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Cause of wreck under investigation
On Tuesday, police said the cause of the crash remained under investigation.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact Gwinnett police.
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior correspondent for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @nataliealund.
