Fremont, N.C. — Speed was a factor in a single-vehicle wreck in Wayne County early Sunday that killed three young people from Fremont and left a high school student critically injured, according to the state Highway Patrol.

Troopers said that Joshua Leon Brantley, 25, Ashley Nicole Haskins, 18, and Jacob Allen Floars, 17, died at the scene of the wreck on N.C. Highway 222 east of Fremont.

The driver – Mark Aaron Pope, 17 – was taken to Wayne Memorial Hospital in Goldsboro, then transferred to Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville. Troopers said he was in critical condition Monday morning.

Floars was a senior at Charles B. Aycock High School, and Pope was a former student, a Wayne County schools spokesman said. The school will have grief counselors on hand Monday for students and staff.

Floars' mother said her son had been friends with Pope since childhood and that the two had planned a sleepover.

Troops said the four were in a Honda Civic going an estimated 80 to 85 mph west on N.C. 222 around 3:30 a.m. The speed limit there is 55 mph.

The Civic went into a curve near Airport Road and crossed the center line multiple times before running off the left side of the road, troopers said. It struck a ditch, flipped over several times and ended upside down.

Pope was the only person wearing a seat belt, troopers said.