KANSAS CITY, Kan. – UPDATE 9:15 PM 10/2/2017: Kansas City police have released the names of the people involved in a police chase that ended in a deadly crash.
Amber Bledsoe, 23, and Jason Edwards, 27, were both killed in the accident. Officials say they were fleeing police after an alleged theft at Cabela's.
The chase ended when the suspects' vehicle crashed at 94th and Parallel Parkway. Officials said the suspects turned eastbound onto Parallel and collided with another vehicle. Two people in the suspect vehicle died and another was injured.
The driver of the other vehicle involved in the crash was OK, but they were sent to the hospital as a precaution.
Bobby Chavez, who told 41 Action News he was a cousin of Bledsoe, remembered the moment he learned of the news of the crash.
"I started getting phone calls at my job," he explained. "They told me that Amber was in a crash out here in KCK and was probably pronounced dead at the scene."
Chavez said he was shocked at Bledsoe's alleged connection to the shoplifting, saying it was out of character for her.
"She was energetic, loving, always joking," he explained. "She wasn't driving. She was in the passenger. Who knows what these boys were up to?"
Police later identified the two other suspects as 20-year-old Zackery Smith of Kansas City, Kansas and 27-year-old Jason Edwards of Kansas City, Missouri.
Smith was injured in the crash and was recovering at a hospital on Monday night.
Afterwards, Chavez said the crash would be tough for him to forget.
"It's one of those things that just happened unfortunately and it shouldn't have happened," he explained.
Update: Parallel Pkwy shut down following fatal police chase crash. Crash took place just over the hill pic.twitter.com/sfOO7bZS4S
— Tom Dempsey (@KCTomDempsey) October 2, 2017
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This is a developing story. Stay with 41 Action News for updates.
