Four young women were killed early Sunday when their car slammed into a light pole on the West Side with enough force that it split in two.
Chicago police spokesman Hector Alfaro said the car was speeding when it hit the beam of a Chicago Transit Authority train track just before midnight and then struck a light pole.
Authorities said three women in their 20s were pronounced dead at the scene. The fourth victim, 21-year-old Ieshia Nelson, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Police are investigating the accident, which happened shortly after midnight.
CBS Station WBBM reports that, according to friends and relatives of the victims, all four were young mothers.
Nelson’s mother, Yvette Harris, said Nelson’s 2-year-old son doesn’t know about his mother yet – and she is still wondering how to tell him.
“I took him to his grandparents’ last night, because he couldn’t go to the hospital with me,” Harris said. “And I don’t know what I’m going to say because when I left, he asked me, ‘You going to get Eesh? My mommy?’ I don’t know what I’m going to say.”
Harris said her daughter was the driver and that the women were on their way to a party.
She said her daughter was studying to be a nurse and had just turned 21 on May 1.
“She was just starting a new job and her baby was going to day care, and she was happy about it. And this happened,” Harris said.
The aunt of another victim identified one of the other three women killed in the crash as 22-year-old Tyshaira Hines.
Hines’ aunt, Pearl Henderson, said Hines worked at McDonalds and had a 5-year-old son.
The Chicago Tribune reported the third identified victim was Bernadette Harris, 25. The fourth victim has not been officially identified.
