PHOENIX - Three people are dead and two others are in extremely critical condition after a single-vehicle crash near I-17 and Bell Road early Thursday morning, according to Phoenix police.
According to police, the vehicle was traveling westbound on Bell Road at a high rate of speed around 1 a.m.
The vehicle hit a raised median and the driver lost control. The vehicle left the roadway and crashed into a light pole on the north side of Bell Road, police said.
Two of the people in the vehicle were pronounced dead at the scene, one died at a hospital and two more remain in extremely critical condition.
Police later identified the driver killed in the crash as 18-year-old Bailey Jones Weldon. The two other passengers killed were 23-year-old Joshua Kroeger and 19-year-old Danielle Bowden.
A 19-year-old man and 18-year-old woman are hospitalized.
Bell Road was closed in both directions between 19th Avenue and Black Canyon Highway for several hours during Thursday morning's rush hour, and reopened just before 8 a.m.
Police said the investigation is ongoing.