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VT: 5 High School Students Killed After Iraq War Vet Drives into Car on I-89

HeadlineOct 11, 2016

In Vermont, five high school students have died after a motorist driving the wrong way down Interstate 89 slammed into the teenagers’ car, which burst into flames. He then stole a police car after the officer stopped to try to put out the fire. He then drove away, turned around and raced back, smashing into more cars that had stopped to help the students in the car crash. The driver, Steven Bourgoin, is a U.S. military veteran who served in Iraq. Authorities say he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, and that he’d gone to the emergency room the morning before the crash seeking help, but that he was not screened by a mental health clinician. His ex-girlfriend took out a restraining order against him after a domestic violence incident in May. She says he’s threatened to kill her by driving them into a pond. She has won full custody of their toddler. Authorities say Bourgoin is still unconscious and in critical condition after the crash. The students killed in the crash were 16-year-old Mary Harris, 16-year-old Cyrus Zschau, 16-year-old Liam Hale, 15-year-old Janie Cozzi and 16-year-old Eli Brookens. Four of the five students attended Harwood Union High School in Duxbury, Vermont. The co-principal of the school has called it “an unprecedented tragedy.” About a thousand people attended a candlelight vigil for the students, who were all juniors in high school.

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