GRAYSON -- Students at Grayson High School are mourning the deaths of two students who were killed and a third critically injured yesterday after their van swerved across the road and struck a tree not far from their Gwinnett County high school.

A Gwinnett County Police spokesman, Cpl. Dan Huggins, said Thursday the passengers, 16-year-old Susan Boyes and Mallory Neeley, 15, died at the scene. The 16-year-old driver, Lindsay Groff, was taken to Gwinnett Medical Center.

The crash was reported shortly after 4 p.m. and was under investigation.

Police said they are unsure why Groff's Ford Aerostar van left the two-lane Hope Hollow Road and crashed into a tree. Police said Groff lost control of the van, hit a roadside mailbox and spun around before crashing passenger-side first into a tree. It was not immediately known if Groff had a valid driver's license.

Students congregated at the site of the crash, which is less than a mile away from the school, after hearing about the crash.

"We were inside the house and we heard the squealing of the tires and the crash," nearby resident Shane Mills said. "And the whole house shook."

The deaths bring the total to at least 11 teenagers killed in wrecks on Gwinnett roads this year, according to statistics kept by the medical examiner's office. Ten teenagers died on Gwinnett County roads in 2002.

Channel 2 Action News reporter Tracy Martinez contributed to this report.

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Tracy Martinez reports