4 Wisconsin teens killed in early morning truck crash

MADISON, Wis. — Four teenagers were killed and another seriously injured when their truck collided with a tractor-trailer in rural south-central Wisconsin early Monday.

The Dodge County Sheriff's Office said in a news release that officers responded to the crash just outside Columbus around 4 a.m.

An initial investigation shows the teens were heading north in a pickup truck when they ran a stop sign and struck an eastbound semi.

The driver of the pickup truck, a 19-year-old Sun Prairie man, was pronounced dead at the scene. The same was true for a 17-year-old passenger from Sun Prairie and a 16-year-old passenger from Madison.

An 18-year-old female passenger from Madison later died at the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison. Another passenger from Madison, 18, was taken to the same hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Sun Prairie High School officials have identified three of the teens who died in the crash. Erik Gamillo Calzada, an 11th grader at Sun Prairie East, died due to the accident, as did his brother Luis, a 2023 Sun Prairie East graduate. Alix Hernandez, another 2023 Sun Prairie East graduate, is also died due to the accident.

The fourth person to die from the crash was a student at Madison La Follette High School, the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) confirmed. MMSD confirmed the other injured passenger was also a student at Madison La Follette High School. Their names have not yet been released.

The driver of the tractor-trailer, a 57-year-old man from La Farge, was transported to a Columbus hospital with minor injuries. His name has not been released.

The accident is still under investigation.

Columbus, a city of about 4,000, is about 27 miles northeast of Madison, the state capital.