Fiery crash on I-5 leaves four dead in Downey
Four United States Marines were killed in a grisly and explosive crash on the I-5 Freeway in Downey early Saturday morning.
California Highway Patrol officers were first dispatched to the scene of the crash, which happened at around 2:30 a.m.
Authorities believe that the crash happened after the driver of a Dodge Challenger lost control of their vehicle for an unknown reason and hit a guard rail on the side of the freeway before slamming into the wall beneath the Lemonran Avenue pedestrian bridge.
The force of the collision "caused the vehicle to split in two, subsequently ejecting the two rear passengers onto the right shoulder," said a statement from California Highway Patrol.
"The ejected parties were deceased when units arrived on scene," officers said.
The vehicle then burst into flames, which spread into the vegetation off the side of the road. Firefighters rushed to the scene to extinguish the flames.
Both of the other passengers were trapped inside as the flames fully engulfed the car, and they were also pronounced dead at the scene.
"It is unknown if the force of the impact or the subsequent fire was the proximate cause of death," CHP said.
All four people killed were Marines, according to authorities at Camp Pendleton, the largest Marine Corps base on the West Coast.
Three victims have been identified as the following: Rodrigo Zermeno Gomez, 19; Daniel Nichols, 26; and Joshua Leandra Moore, Jr., 27 and the fourth victim's identity has yet to be released.
