CHICAGO -- Family and friends of a teenager killed overnight gathered Wednesday morning at the site of a crash that left two men dead on the city's Northwest Side.
Police say one of the vehicles in the collision was traveling at high speeds when it ran through a red light at an intersection and slammed into a passing van.
Alsiej Avdic was eastbound in a Nissan on Irving Park Road and ran a red light at Cumberland Avenue, striking a northbound GMC 2500 van at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to Jefferson Park District Lt. John Lewison.
NBC5's Lisa Tutman reported Wednesday that both family and friends said that Azdic loved to drive fast cars, but this time that may have been what cost the lives of the 18-year-old and a second driver.
Both Azdi and the driver of the van were ejected from their vehicles and suffered fatal injuries in the high-speed collision, police said.
"He liked to drive fast," Avdic's cousin, Vahid Avdic, told Tutman. "His dad would constantly tell him he needs to stop doing that, he needs to be careful. (He was) always reminding him of that and he just didn't listen for some reason, unfortunately."
The driver of the van, Alex Ivanou, 27, of 9454 Bay Colony Dr. in Des Plaines, was taken to Resurrection Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 12:23 a.m. Wednesday, according to a Cook County Medical Examiner's Office spokesman.
Avdic, of 4419 N. Keystone Ave., was pronounced dead at 12:08 a.m. Wednesday at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, according to a Cook County medical examiner's office representative.
The Nissan burst into flames on impact and then hit a Volvo, which was stopped on the west side of the intersection, Lewison said. The woman driving the Volvo was not injured and no one else was riding in either of the victims' vehicles, he said.
Schiller Park police assisted at the accident scene due to the bordering intersection, a Schiller Park police sergeant said.
Police News Affairs Officer Laura West said neither drugs nor alcohol were believed to have played a role in the crash.
A friend, Jerry Rowland, told Tutman that Avdic enjoyed life.
"He enjoyed being here, being happy, hanging out with all his friends, everything," Rowland said.
Avdic was a high school senior who had hopes of attending the University of Chicago next fall, Tutman said.
Kid wraps his 350Z around pole, kills himself and one other
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Originally Posted by Alpharetta Police
