Four killed in collision with Robeson school bus

No students were on the bus at the time.

Robeson County deputies were following the Nissan Maxima after getting a call about a suspicious vehicle, according Lt. Jeff Gordon, spokesman for the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, which is investigating the crash. The person who reported the vehicle to authorities also was following it, he said.

Although deputies didn't engage in a pursuit, Gordon said, the Maxima was traveling at 80 mph in a 55-mph zone when the crash occurred at about 10:15 a.m. in the 2900 block of Wire Grass Road, south of Lumberton.

"They were in the area behind the citizen who made the call. By the time they got around the curve, the vehicle had already hit the bus head on," he said. "I don't know the specifics as why they looked suspicious. I think they were seen within the community driving around, but as far as what was the suspicion about, I don't know."

The force of the collision caused the car to split into three sections. Passengers Tylek McNair, 18, and Kashawn Leonard, 19, both of Fairmont, and Daylon Cummings, 15, of Rowland, were all thrown from the vehicle. The Maxima's driver, Kadaufei Worley, 16, of Lumberton, was wearing a seat belt, and his body was found inside the mangled wreckage.

Worley was a junior at South Robeson High School, where Cummings was a freshman. McNair was a senior at Fairmont High School, where Leonard was a 2014 graduate.

Authorities initially said the four teens were suspects in a breaking-and-entering case, but the Robeson County Sheriff's Office has provided no information confirming that.

The school bus was headed from Fairmont High School to the bus maintenance shop for some work when the crash occurred, said Tasha Oxendine, a spokeswoman for Robeson County Schools.

A maintenance worker, Kinyata Locklear, 36, of Maxton, was the only person aboard, Oxendine said. He suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries and was transferred from Southeastern Regional Medical Center in Lumberton to Duke University Hospital in Durham for treatment.