Six Ohio teens killed, two hurt when packed SUV plunges into pond

Officials don’t know where the SUV was headed. They just know that eight teenagers, one as young as 14, were riding in it.

When the vehicle hit a guardrail Sunday morning just south of the eastern Ohio city of Warren, it overturned and ended up in a pond. Six passengers died, leaving yet another community in grief and shock.

Officials said none of the teens were wearing seat belts. The Warren Tribune Chronicle reported that the vehicle was a 1998 Honda Passport, which normally can seat five passengers, according to the Kelley Blue Book.

Two of the victims died after being taken to St. Joseph Health Center in Warren, where 2 1/2 hours of resuscitation efforts failed to revive them from trauma suffered in the crash and from their immersion in frigid water, Julie Gill, a nursing supervisor, told the Los Angeles Times.

The two surviving teens were taken to the hospital, treated and released to their parents, Gill said.

Officials identified the survivors as Brian Henry, 18, and Asher Lewis, 15, the Associated Press reported.

The dead were Kirklan Behner, 15; Andrique Bennett, 14; Alexis Cayson, 19; Brandon Murray, 17; Daylan Ray, 15; and Ramone White, 15.

After news of the crash began to circulate around Warren, people stopped by the site of the tragedy to pay their respects.

“It was announced at the close of [church] service that there has been a terrible accident and I wanted to drive up here,” Gwen Morgan, a Warren resident, told Tribune Chronicle. “My prayers are with the families.”

Friends, community members and classmates took to social media in the hours after the crash to remember their loved ones.

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matt.pearce@latimes.com