Three people died following a three-vehicle crash along I-10 early on Sunday morning.
According to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, the accident involved a wrong-way driver.
Troopers responded to a report that a driver was traveling westbound in the eastbound lanes.
A short time after, the crash was reported near Riggs Road in Chandler.
The wrong-way driver was identified as Cornel Eugine Ard, a 71-year-old resident of Casa Grande. He was pronounced dead in hospital.
The Department of Public Safety said two passengers in the vehicle that Ard struck died at the scene.
They are Eva Michelle Sanchez, 49, of Arizona City and Jacob Adam Morales, 27, of Casa Grande.
The driver of that vehicle and another passenger were taken to the hospital with undisclosed injuries. Their condition is unknown.
The driver and passenger of a third vehicle were treated at the scene.
DPS said Ard was the subject of a previous “Attempt to Locate” bulletin because of mental illness due to age.
Impairment is not believed to have factored into the crash.
Sunday’s accident was the third fatal collision in less than a week on the 23-mile stretch of I-10 between Casa Grande and Chandler. A total of five people died.
On February 10, 41-year-old Casa Grande resident Anthony Kittrell was killed in a single-vehicle rollover accident near Riggs Road. He was ejected from his vehicle and he died at the scene.
On February 12, another fatal crash closed eastbound Interstate 10 on the Gila River Indian Community just after 5 a.m. This was also a rollover accident involving one car. No details were released about the victim.
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