5 killed when SUV struck bridge near Capital Boulevard were all teens, police say

RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Five teens were killed in an early morning crash on Capital Boulevard Sunday.

Authorities said the vehicle was traveling southbound on Capital Boulevard in the right lane at high rate of speed when it ran off the road and hit the concrete bridge.

Police said all five occupants -- ages 13, 14, 14, 17, and 17 -- died from their injuries.

They were not wearing seatbelts, police said.

Zymeer Dennis, 14, was one of the teens who died.

"He loved everybody," his grandfather Franklin James said on Monday. "He was a people person. All his friends, he had lots and lots of friends."

James said Dennis was riding with his friends Sunday when the crash happened.

"I had talked to (Dennis) earlier that day," James said. "And he was going to the fair. I took him some extra clothes and that's the last I saw him. I never thought that would be the last time I would see him."

Dennis went to Wake Forest High School. A spokesperson for the Wake County Public School System said counselors would be available for students there.

A GoFundMe page identified two of the other victims as 17-year-old Jeremiah Williams and 13-year-old Mi-Keal Freeman.

An investigation is still underway.

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