Victims Of Fatal Sunday Predawn Crash In Stolen Car Are Both 'Juveniles,' Wont Be Named: CT State Police

NEW HAVEN, CT — Update, Jan. 8:

Update to the suspicious death: the wound was not a gunshot and did not cause the death. No other trauma was found. This has not been ruled a homicide. Cause/manner of death are pending until the toxicology report is completed.

Original story:

A 13-year-old boy driving a stolen car and his passenger, a "young" female, were identified as the two killed in the predawn hours Sunday when the car crashed into a tree, state and local police said.

The Hyundai Elantra was being pursued by cops after it "nearly collided with a marked New Haven Police Department patrol vehicle," police said at a news briefing Wednesday. They said it was "later determined" that the car was stolen.

Little to nothing is known about the passenger, except that she's a "young woman," New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker said. State police are expected to release a description of her, Elicker said. (This story will be updated when Patch receives that information.)

The boy's name has not been released, but he is a New Haven Public School student, officials said.

It was 4:52 a.m., when the 2019 Hyundai Elantra, traveling northbound on Whalley Avenue, approached the intersection with Harrison Street. Traveling northwesterly, it went off the right side of the road, running onto the Beth El Keser Israel Synagogue property, then collided with a tree and ended up in the northbound lane of Whalley Avenue, state police said this weekend, and New Haven police updated Wednesday.

A state police investigation is underway. New Haven's Acting Police Chief David Zanelli said an internal police investigation is also being conducted.

Anyone who witnessed the collision or the moments prior to the collision is asked to contact Det. James Bria at James.Bria@ct.gov or CARS Detective Alec DeRosa at Alec.DeRosa@ct.gov.