Police are investigating whether alcohol played a role in a crash that killed five teens in Santa Maria early Sunday.
Officers responded to Broadway and Miller Street around 1:40 a.m. and found a vehicle had struck a traffic signal, the Santa Maria Police Department said in a news release. Four occupants of the vehicle died at the scene, and a fifth died in a hospital, police said.
Authorities identified them as Isabella Star Vigil, 16; Nicolas Munoz-Gautreaux, 17; Jennifer Gutierrez, 19; Guendi Beatrice Gamez Escalante, 16; and Yusbeli Diaz Galvez, 17.
A sixth occupant of the vehicle, Aurelio Calixtro Matias, 24, remains hospitalized in critical condition, police said.
Officers have received information indicating the vehicle may have been speeding before the crash, and preliminary evidence located at the scene suggests alcohol may have been a contributing factor, police said in the news release. The investigation is ongoing, and no final determination has been made, authorities said.
The release called the crash “a devastating tragedy that has deeply impacted the families of those involved and the Santa Maria community as a whole.”
“The loss of so many young lives is difficult to comprehend, and our hearts go out to the victims’ families, friends, classmates, loved ones, and all those affected by this heartbreaking event,” police wrote.
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