Shop Road wreck leaves two men, two women dead
The car, which appeared to be a gray Dodge Charger, careened off the road and collided with the Farm Bureau Insurance Building near the intersection of George Rogers and Shop Road around 5 a.m., according to a release from Richland County Coroner Gary Watts. The driver was heading south from Rosewood Drive before losing control of the car, according to Jennifer Timmons, chief information officer for the Columbia Police Department. Timmons said in an email that the reason for the crash is still being investigated.
A fire engulfed the car after the wreck, so the identity of the victims — and if they were USC students — is being withheld until they can be positively identified via X-Ray, DNA and further medical examination, the release said.
"We don't know who they are yet," Watts said in an interview Wednesday afternoon. "We know it's two males and two females, but they haven't been identified."
Once identities can be confirmed, the victims' families will be notified and additional information will be made public, the release said.
Watts estimated that the process would take at least a day.
"We could have it by late tomorrow," he said. "Maybe longer than that as medical examinations are done."
Watts will continue the investigation with assistance from the Columbia Police Department, the USC Police Department, the Columbia-Richland Fire Department and the South Carolina Highway Patrol.
A police report for the incident is not yet available as it is still being processed, according to Timmons.