Mother, 2 Teenagers Killed In Crash Caused By SUV Thief: Police

Updated: 10:30 a.m., Sunday

PHOENIX, AZ — A mother and her two teenage children — a son and daughter — were killed in a five-vehicle crash caused by a speeding SUV thief near 7th and Missouri avenues Thursday afternoon, Phoenix police said in a news release.

Just before 4 p.m. Thursday, Phoenix police officers were called to the area of 17th and Missouri avenues after learning about a stolen vehicle. A woman was in her SUV, a Cadillac SRX, when a man she knows, 33-year-old Raymond Montgomery, hit her in the face and drove off in her SUV, police said.

Minutes later, additional 911 calls came in reporting a five-vehicle crash nearby at the intersection of 7th and Missouri avenues. One of the vehicles involved matched the description of the stolen Cadillac, police said.

Police officers and firefighters from the Phoenix Fire Department responded to the accident and began treating those involved. Five people were brought to a nearby hospital with injuries.

All three people in a Honda Civic involved in the accident died from their injuries, police said. The passengers, two teenage siblings — 18-year-old Ali Geer and his 16-year-old sister, Almira Geer — were pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Their mother and the car’s driver, 45-year-old Courtney Lonergan, was brought to a hospital with critical injuries and later pronounced dead.

Investigators learned from witnesses and evidence at the scene that Montgomery was speeding eastbound on Missouri Avenue in the Cadillac SUV and ran the red light at 7th Avenue, police said. He was driving 97 miles per hour seconds before the collision, and about 78 miles per hour immediately prior to impact.

The Cadillac hit the Honda Civic, which was traveling south on 7th Avenue. The force of that collision caused the SUV and Honda to hit a Dodge Ram pickup truck occupied by an adult and a child. The child was brought to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

That collision then pushed the pick-up truck into a city of Phoenix bus that was also travelling north. The bus had one driver and two passengers on board. None of them had serious injuries that required treatment, police said.

After the crash, the Cadillac continued east and hit a pedestrian who was crossing Missouri Avenue in the crosswalk on the east side of 7th Avenue. That pedestrian was brought to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The Cadillac then struck a Chevy Malibu that was waiting on Missouri Avenue at the red light about to travel west, police said. The occupant of the Malibu was also brought to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Montgomery was brought to the hospital for injuries from the crash. Upon his release, he was charged with three counts of first-degree murder, one count of robbery, one count of theft of means of transportation and seven counts of endangerment, police said. DUI charges are pending lab results.