WHEAT RIDGE - Two teenagers were killed and two others were seriously hurt when their SUV slammed into a tree early Sunday morning.
Wheat Ridge Police believe speed was a factor in the crash and they're looking into reports the teens were at a party where alcohol was being served.
Police have identified the two victims as 18-year-old Tyler Lovell of Golden who was a student at Lakewood High School and a 17-year old female who was a student at Wheat Ridge High School.
Because she is a minor, 9NEWS has chosen not to identify her. Friends say she and Lovell recently began dating.
"This is a tragedy whenever you lose two young people, with their whole lives ahead of them. Our hearts go out to their families and their friends," said Jeffco school district spokesperson Lynn Setzer.
"Grief counselors will available at both schools, which is standard procedure," Setzer said.
The two surviving passengers are 19-year-old Steve Miskimon and 19-year-old Andre Lang, both from Lakewood. Police and friends say both were seriously injured.
Wheat Ridge police spokesperson Lisa Spinder says around 2:30 am Sunday, an SUV carrying the four teenagers missed a sharp turn on Twilight Drive near 26th Avenue and Kipling Street.
Spinder says the SUV was airborne for at least 40 feet before slamming into a tree a few feet from Kathy Plummer's house. Had it gone any further, Plummer says the vehicle would have landed in her living room.
"The car was on its side upside down in a tree," Plummer said. "They didn't make the corner and they turned really late."
Wheat Ridge police think the SUV was going 60 miles an hour at the time of impact. All four teenagers were wearing their seat belts. Rescuers used the jaws of life to remove the teens from the SUV.
"It's very sad. The poor kids in the front seat never knew what happened," Plummer said. "Families have been broken. That's the saddest part. And I feel for them."
Wheat Ridge police did not find any beer bottles in the SUV, but they did find an empty beer box. Spinder says the coroner will determine out if the 18-year-old driver had any alcohol in his system.
"Kids need to know they're not invincible," Spinder said.
Sunday evening, friends of the teenagers laid flowers and said prayers near the spot where the SUV landed.
"I love them, honestly. Like family," said 18-year-old Jerry Sanchez as he fought back tears.
For these friends it is a painful lesson in life and death.
"It's hard to believe," Sanchez said. "I'm going to miss them so much. I just loved them. Stuff like this makes you really aware of your own mortality."
Sanchez and others said they were at a party with the teenagers just before the crash where people were drinking.
"They were supposed to stay at the party. They were supposed to stay there," Sanchez said.
Sometime early in the morning, the teenagers left.
"I wish they would have stayed, I really do. I really do," Sanchez said.
22-year-old Sean Monet says he was riding in the SUV with the teenagers earlier Sunday evening, before they went to the party.
"I didn't go because I wanted them to drop me off at home first," Monette said.
Monettte doesn't know why he decided to stay home and knows he could have easily been in that mangled SUV.
"It's really scary man," Monette said. "Why not me yet man? Why did I get out of the car?"
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