Two Men and a Woman Are Killed in Brooklyn Crash

Three people were killed in Brooklyn early Saturday when a car sped through a red light and struck another vehicle, the police said.

The collision occurred about 2 a.m. in the Gravesend neighborhood when, according to the police, a black Acura containing four people traveling eastbound on Avenue U “at a high rate of speed” went through the traffic signal at East Fifth Street and smashed into a red Toyota with two occupants that had been traveling north.

The Acura then careened into two parked cars, one of which hit another car. The Toyota slid east on Avenue U, striking a city bus and a parked car, which in turn hit another vehicle.

Both occupants of the Toyota were killed in the crash, the police said, identifying them as Andre M. Capers-Jones, 26, of Gravesend and Leonora Lavaud, 24, of Park Slope. The police said that Mr. Capers-Jones was driving and that Ms. Lavaud was sitting next to him.

The man driving the Ac ura was also killed, the police said, but his name had not been released by Saturday evening. A second man in the Acura was thrown from the vehicle. He suffered head trauma and was listed in critical condition at Lutheran Medical Center, the police said.

Two women who were in the Acura were also brought to Lutheran with leg injuries. One of them was identified by relatives as Rachel Darling, 23.

On Saturday night, more than a dozen people, including several relatives, tried to console one another at the third-floor apartment where Mr. Capers-Jones grew up.

Andre Capers-Jones, 26.

Mr. Capers-Jones had received an associate's degree from Brooklyn College and hoped to become a teacher of children with di sabilities. He worked at the Mercy Home for Children as he pursued his education, relatives and friends said.

An aunt, Tanya Jefferson, called Mr. Capers-Jones's death “senseless.”

“He lived a short life,” she added. “But he was happy.”

A brother, Tyshon Capers-Jones, 30, said that his brother had been driving Ms. Lavaud home when the accident occurred.

Giving a ride to a friend was typical of Mr. Capers-Jones, his brother said, adding that he frequently accompanied his 72-year-old mother to medical appointments and helped her shop.

At Lutheran, Ms. Darling's mother, Marina Tabakman, said that one of her daughter's legs was broken in two places. Ms. Tabakman added that she did not know who had been driving the Acura.

When she received a call saying that her daughter had been hospitalized, Ms. Tabakman said, she was initially angry, but later felt relief when she realized that her daughter had survived an accident that had kille d others.

Ms. Tabakman said she spoke with Ms. Darling after she emerged from an operation.

“My daughter said, ‘All I saw was the impact, and I screamed,'” she said.