CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Late Tuesday a morning, the Corpus Christi police department responded to a one-vehicle crash at 2300 N. Port Ave, near the intersection of W. Broadway Street.
Officials said two people in the accident had died, while two others were taken to an area hospital for their injuries.
Word quickly got around Ray High School that two of their seniors had died in the wreck, which happened while they were on their way to school from graduation rehearsal.
Johnny Morgan, the father of one of those young men who was sent to the hospital, says his son has been released and is now home recovering from a severe concussion.
He credits his son's survival to him wearing a seat belt.
"He's banged up pretty bad, but he's doing alright as far as health," Morgan said. "But unfortunately, he's taking the news about his other friends pretty hard."
So far the names of the victims have not been released.
Back at Ray High, classmates of the accident victims reacted to the news with a variety of emotions.
“I send my condolences and stuff like that — just pray for them," a freshman said. "That’s all I can do right now.”
"They were going to graduate and they didn’t even get to,” another freshman said. "Everyone was talking about it, and a lot of the teachers were grieving about it.”
The Corpus Christi Independent School District put out a news release about the situation.
“We want to express our deepest condolences to the families of the two seniors we lost today,” CCISD Superintendent Dr. Roland Hernandez said in the release. “We appreciate our community’s prayers for our district during what continues to be an incredibly challenging time for us as well as for educators across the nation.”
“Our Texan community is devastated by this loss of our graduating seniors,” Ray High School Principal Roxanne Cuevas said in the release. “Our hearts go out to all the loved ones affected by this tragedy.”
Ray High's graduation is still set for Friday at 2 p.m. at the American Bank Center.
Two chairs will be reserved for the accident victims in keeping with CCISD tradition of honoring deceased students.
The Corpus Christi Police Department continues to investigate the wreck in hopes of determining what caused it.
That includes reconstructing the wreck, interviewing witnesses, and gathering and processing data.
They have made some initial observations.
“It looks like speed is a contributing factor," CCPD Lt. Colby Burris said. “Based on what we’ve seen so far, it does not look like (the car that wrecked) struck any other vehicle.”
