HARTFORD, Conn. (AP and WTIC) - A hit-and-run driver struck three Trinity College students who were trying to cross a street in Hartford, killing one and wounding the two others, city police said Friday as they continued searching for the suspect.
Officers were called to New Britain Avenue near the liberal arts school shortly after 11:30 p.m. Thursday and found three injured young women including one who was unresponsive, Lt. Aaron Boisvert said. All three were taken to local hospitals.
Jillian Hegarty, 20, was pronounced dead at a hospital, Boisvert said. A 19-year-old woman remained hospitalized Friday in critical but stable condition and a 20-year-old woman was treated and released, he said.
Hegarty's Facebook page said she attended high school at the private St. Johnsbury Academy in Vermont.
Police asked for the public's help in locating a gray, 2004 to 2007 Volkswagen Touareg with front-end damage including a missing bumper. The vehicle fled the scene and was recorded by surveillance cameras.
Boisvert announced Friday at around 1:45 p.m. that the vehicle was recovered in New Haven.
Boisvert declined to say whether the three students were in a crosswalk.
The Trinity community was mourning Hegarty's death and planning a gathering in the school's chapel Friday afternoon to remember her, a school official said. All three students were members of the Class of 2024.
"This hit-and-run accident comes as a great shock to us all," said Joe DiChristina, the school's vice president for student success and enrollment management, in an email to students, faculty, staff and alumni. "Nothing could have prepared us for this kind of news and the senseless loss of life. It is simply heartbreaking."
