Two people died in Lakewood on Thursday when a loose tire flew into the windshield of a van on Interstate 5, state troopers said.
The Washington State Department of Transportation reported the incident on social-media platform X about 5:37 a.m. Identities of the people killed were not immediately released.
Trooper John Dattilo said a 15-passenger van carrying eight people was north on I-5 near the Bridgeport Way Southwest exit when a tire flew through the windshield. Dattilo said troopers are unsure where the tire came from.
The tire struck several passengers. A 55-year-old man and 22-year-old man from Shelton were pronounced dead. They were sitting in the second and fourth row of the van.
Another passenger was taken to a local hospital and was listed in stable condition Thursday morning. The rest of the people in the van were uninjured, including the driver, Dattilo said.
Traffic through the area was jammed for much of the morning while investigators and first responders were on the scene, with traffic backing up past DuPont.
