MADISON, Wis. — Four teenagers were killed and another was seriously injured when their truck collided with a semitrailer in rural south-central Wisconsin early Monday.
The Dodge County Sheriff's Office said in a news release that deputies responded to the crash just outside Columbus around 4 a.m.
An initial investigation shows the teenagers were traveling north in a pickup truck when they ran a stop sign and hit an eastbound semitrailer.
The pickup's driver, a 19-year-old Sun Prairie man, was pronounced dead at the scene. So were a 17-year-old male passenger from Sun Prairie and a 16-year-old male passenger from Madison.
An 18-year-old female passenger from Madison died later at the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison. Another 18-year-old female passenger from Madison was taken to the same hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Sun Prairie High School officials identified three of the deceased teens in the crash. Erik Gamillo Calzada, an 11th grader at Sun Prairie East, died because of the crash, as did his brother Luis, who graduated Sun Prairie East in 2023. Alix Hernandez, another 2023 graduate from Sun Prairie East, also died because of the crash.
The fourth person who died because of the crash was a student at Madison La Follette High School, the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) confirmed. MMSD confirmed the other passenger who was injured is also a student at Madison La Follette High School. Their names haven’t been released yet.
The semitrailer driver, a 57-year-old man from La Farge, was taken to a hospital in Columbus with minor injuries. His name has not been released.
The crash remains under investigation.
Columbus, a city of about 4,000 people, lies about 27 miles northeast of Madison, the state capital.