Three people were killed and four others were injured early Tuesday when a stolen car carrying seven people hit a semi near the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, police said.
Officers responded to the crash around 4:12 a.m. and found seven people trapped inside a stolen Hyundai Elantra, according to the Minneapolis Police Department. Two males in the front seats and a female in the back seat died at the scene. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office will release their identities.
Minneapolis firefighters freed the other four passengers from the back seat: two 18-year-old men, a 17-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy. Ambulances took them to Hennepin Healthcare with potentially life-threatening injuries.
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Police said the Elantra was traveling west on Southeast 4th Street when it struck the trailer of a semi that was coming off the southbound Interstate 35W exit ramp and crossing Southeast 4th Street. The car became lodged beneath the trailer, and both vehicles came to a stop on 9th Avenue Southeast between Southeast 4th Street and University Avenue Southeast.
Investigators believe the stolen car’s speed contributed to the crash, police said. The semi driver was not hurt and cooperated with officers.
Minneapolis police traffic investigators and forensic scientists processed the scene. The southbound I-35W exit to Southeast 4th Street and 9th Avenue Southeast were closed for several hours. Police are investigating the sequence of events that led to the crash.
MN CRIME will update this story as more information is released.
