Fatal crash involving two students Sunday is latest tragedy to hit Moore

Jessie Christopher Smith, Oklahoman
·3 min read
Westmoore High, as it appeared in May 2022, was the school Kaleb Newport and Nathan Nguyen, both 18, were attending at the time of their deaths in a car crash Sunday.
Westmoore High, as it appeared in May 2022, was the school Kaleb Newport and Nathan Nguyen, both 18, were attending at the time of their deaths in a car crash Sunday.

MOORE ― A fatal crash in southwest Oklahoma City killed two Moore Public Schools students this week, officials confirmed.

Police said Kaleb Newport, 18, was traveling west "at an incredibly high rate of speed" in the 6600 block of Southwest 119th Street just before 4 a.m. Sunday, when the vehicle he was driving veered off the roadway and crashed into a tree.

Newport and his backseat passenger, Nathan Nguyen, also 18, died in the wreck. Another passenger, unidentified by authorities Monday, was taken to a local hospital, but his condition was unknown at press time.

"I don't know exactly if it was solely the speed involved that caused the vehicle to strike the tree head-on," said Sgt. Dillon Quirk, of the Oklahoma City Police Department. "But there was evidence of alcohol at the scene, and it appears they were not wearing their seatbelts. Those three things mixed together can create a disastrous situation, and unfortunately it did this time."

The students were merely weeks away from graduation, police said.

Related: $256,000 grant to support tragedy response in Moore

Officials with Moore Public Schools released a statement Monday after being notified of the fatal crash, saying that Newport and Nguyen "will be deeply missed by the Westmoore Jaguar family."

"We send our heartfelt condolences to all of our families that are hurting over these tremendous losses," the school district's statement read.

'It's hard, because the awful emotions feel repetitive'

Sunday's fatal car accident is the latest in a series of tragic events to befall the Moore Public Schools community over the past decade. In May 2013, seven children died after a devastating tornado struck Plaza Towers Elementary School. In February 2020, three Moore High School students died and four were injured after a truck drove through a group of cross-country runners.

In January 2022, 18-year-old Gabriel Williams died and several other Moore High School baseball players were injured after a van crashed in Goldsby near Interstate 35. In May 2022, 17-year-old Westmoore High School student Kolby Dutton died while riding his motorcycle near SW 107 and Western Avenue.

And in December, another deadly automobile accident killed 15-year-old Colby McCarron, also of Westmoore High School, and injured four other students.

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"It's hard, because the awful emotions feel repetitive," Kristy Hernandez, director of student services for Moore Public Schools, told The Oklahoman last December. "I think that's the most difficult part about it, to be frank."

As it has often needed to do in response to recent traumatizing events, the school district deployed a team of 14 mental health professionals and counselors Monday to support students and faculty.

"It's a terrible tragedy," Quirk said. "These young men were just at the brink of beginning their adult lives. There were certain factors that seemed to all play a role in how this turned out, and you feel for the families in their loss. It really is tragic."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Two Moore Public Schools students killed in wreck