Five Teen Boys Killed in Colorado Cliffside Car Crash

Five teenagers lost their lives when their car rolled off a cliff in rural Colorado. The tragedy occurred late Saturday night near Grand Junction, roughly 245 miles from Denver. Police confirmed the crash happened on the hillside around 7:45 am Sunday as first responders arrived. All five victims were boys aged 17 who lived locally. Three of them had seatbelts on, including the driver and front passengers. The other two lacked restraints and flew out of the vehicle upon impact. Authorities are now looking into speed as a possible cause, though they do not know who was driving yet.

Coroner officials say state law prevents them from naming minors without permission. Families stepped in to share the names anyway. Braden Taylor, Tristan Tucker, Titus Gould, William Simms, and Tyler Martinez died that evening. Close friends and relatives posted heartbreaking updates online trying to process this sudden loss. Tucker was just about to start his senior year of high school and get his driver's license. A GoFundMe page called him "full of life, potential, and a free spirit." His sister Emily Simms wrote on Facebook how her brother and best friends left too soon. She set up the fundraiser because their family could not fathom such a loss.

The Gould family also received support through a Meal Train after Titus died. His mother Larissa Gould did not speak publicly about the death at first. On Monday morning she changed her profile picture to one showing her and her son. Many people flooded her comments with kindness and condolences. Braden's grandfather Calvin Wilken confirmed his grandson was among the dead. He shared a photo saying Braden died in a rollover down five ledges overlooking railroad tracks and the Gunnison River. They were just blocks from their old home on a ridge top development. The final victim identified so far is Tyler Martinez. His grandmother Debbie Gallegos Martinez posted somberly on Facebook following the accident. Speed remains under investigation by police while it stays unclear who held the wheel that fatal Saturday night.

Two passengers were ejected from the vehicle because they did not wear seatbelts, according to the coroner's office.

A grieving grandmother wrote with tears in her eyes that her grandson was among the boys lost in this tragedy. She shared a link to a local news report covering the heartbreaking event.

Another relative, Angela Chris Martinez, took to Facebook to post an article and ask everyone to pray for their family. She also asked the community to keep praying for the other families who lost their sons, calling the whole situation devastating and heartrending.

Martinez's mother, Aimee Huffman, has been posting pictures of herself with her late son on her social media page over the last few days. Friends and neighbors have flooded the comments section with messages of sympathy.

A spokesperson for the Grand Junction Police Department told the Daily Mail that investigators are still looking into the case. They noted that cases like this one require a significant amount of time to fully investigate.