YouTube star McSkillet died after driving his McLaren 650S sports car the wrong way down a crowded San Diego highway on Thursday, authorities said.
The crash also killed two others — a 43-year-old mother and her 12-year-old daughter, according to the San Diego medical examiner’s office. Their identities were not immediately released.
The 18-year-old YouTuber, born Trevor Heitmann, was reportedly driving his car at nearly 100 miles an hour south into oncoming traffic in the northbound carpool lane near University City on the I-805 highway. The vehicle struck a 2010 Hyundai SUV, causing it to burst into flames.
According to the medical examiner’s report, the two occupants of the vehicle, as well as Heitmann, were pronounced dead at the scene — the latter due to “blunt force trauma.”
According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, the crash impacted nearly a dozen automobiles caught in rush hour traffic, with “multiple vehicles on fire,” CHP Officer Mary Bailey said. One motorist was reportedly seriously injured but is expected to survive.
“People were running around … and someone was on the ground,” an eyewitness told the outlet. “They were trying to help him, he was raising his hand, and they were just surrounding him.”
California Highway Patrol is currently investigating whether Heitmann was intentionally driving into oncoming traffic.
According to multiple reports, authorities believe Heitmann was involved in an incident at Ashley Falls School in San Diego just 30 minutes before the fatal crash. CNN obtained a statement from the school stating that a car, believed to be Heitmann’s, “drove through the side gate and an individual got out of the car and threw an item at a door, breaking a window.”
Heitmann first earned fame through the first-person game Counter Strike: Global Offensive, where he became known for trading “skins,” or files that alter the appearance of a game character. Since then, his YouTube channel has gone on to attract over 800,000 subscribers.
