Three 15-year-olds die when car crashes into vacant home in suburban St. Louis

UNIVERSITY CITY, Mo. (AP) — Three 15-year-olds died when the car one of them was driving slammed into a vacant brick home near St. Louis.

Police said the 2016 Hyundai Accent involved in the accident Wednesday morning was owned by the driver’s mother, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. The Missouri State Highway Patrol report said the car was “traveling too fast for conditions” when it failed to make a curve and crashed into the home in University City, Missouri, at around 6:30 a.m.

All three teens — classmates at the same high school — were pronounced dead at the scene. The legal driving age in Missouri is 16. Fifteen-year-olds can obtain a permit allowing them to drive, but only with a licensed adult in the vehicle.

University City police asked the highway patrol to handle the investigation. Patrol Cpl. Dallas Thompson said police had tried hours earlier to pull over a car similar to the one that struck the house, but lost sight of it. They were searching for the car prior to the accident.

St. Louis Alderman Sharon Tyus, who came to the house after the crash, said she and her husband bought it a few years ago and were renovating it with plans to rent it out.

The teens attended Ladue Horton Watkins High School. Counselors were at the school Wednesday, and students were planning a vigil.