GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. – Five teens are dead and three others were injured after a vehicle flew over the wall from an elevated ramp onto Interstate 85 near Atlanta early Labor Day morning.
Gwinnett County officials said in a a press release that just before 4 a.m. on Monday, police received 911 calls reporting that a vehicle had gone “over the wall of the raised ramp” and had crashed onto I-85 below near Pleasant Hill Rd in Duluth, Georgia, FOX 5 Atlanta reported.
When first responders arrived, they discovered five deceased victims and another three individuals who sustained injuries, the news release said. The injured were transported to local hospitals and their conditions are unknown.
The horrific crash resulted in an extended shutdown of SR 316’s westbound ramp to I-85 southbound and Pleasant Hill Road, along with the I-85SB collector-distributor to Pleasant Hill, according to FOX.
Officials later identified the deceased victims as 17-year-old Katy Gaitan, 16-year-old Ashley Gaitan, 17-year-old Coral Lorenzo, 18-year-old Hung Nguyen and 19-year-old Abner Santana.
A preliminary investigation revealed that two of the involved vehicles crashed, which resulted in one of the vehicles flying over the wall of the ramp and onto the interstate below where it was then struck by another automobile, FOX 5 reported.
Law enforcement authorities are asking witnesses to the devastating collision to contact Gwinnett County Police Department at 678-442-5653 or [email protected].
