SAN ANTONIO – Trinity University students are dealing with the death of one of their own.
Corey Burris Byrnes, 18, a freshman, was killed in a crash near Olmos Park early Monday morning, officials said.
School officials said he was on the Dean's List and while he had yet to declare a major, his core classes at the time were in the STEM discipline, which focused on science, math, technology, and engineering.
Alicia Guerrero, a university senior and managing editor of the Trinitonian, said Byrnes' death is just one of the tragedies the school newspaper has covered this past semester.
"Earlier this month, we did have a professor pass away on campus. He was walking and he collapsed and had a heart attack. I know that hit very hard. Now, we have this accident that happened in the early morning hours," said Guerrero.
San Antonio police investigators believe the driver of the car Byrnes was in was speeding west on East Olmos Drive and lost control coming off of a curve at around 12:45 a.m.
The car then jumped the curb and struck a light pole before slamming into a concrete bridge pillar that supports Highway 281, San Antonio police said.
Byrnes was one of the back-seat passengers. He was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
Four other people including the driver were taken to University Hospital.
Police at the scene said alcohol did not appear to be a factor. The crash remains under investigation.
A spokesperson for Trinity University confirmed Byrnes and the other four students were all first-year students. The spokesperson also said two of the students, a male and female, remained in critical condition while two other female students were considered stable.
Many students at Trinity learned of the news through an email the school put out Monday morning.
"I saw the email, and my mood ... it's just sad. There are no other words to describe it really," said Kimberly Polasek.
Stephen Chang knew Byrnes through class.
"He came from Colorado also. He went to a school nearby mine. That's where I'm from," said Chang. "He was in the hardest class I'm in now. It's an upper-level physics course. He was a freshman, and I mean a really, really bright kid."
"It's just really surprising. I know one of them. He was in my class last semester," said Cameron Hayes, who knew one of the surviving students. "It's tough, but I think we're all behind all of them, and we'll get through it."
"Life can be very short sometimes. It can be tragically short. It's just a good reminder that when I cross the stage in May, that unspeakable things happen and that you have to live every day to the fullest because you never know when something can happen to yourself or a loved one or a friend," said Guerrero.
Guerrero confirmed that Byrnes' sister is a senior at Trinity and scheduled to graduate in May. University officials also said grief counselors and the school's chaplain will be on hand indefinitely to help students and staff cope with his sudden death.