Metra train strikes car that drove onto crossing, 2 killed

INGLESIDE, Ill. (AP) — A 13-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman died after the car they were riding in drove through a railroad crossing gate and was struck by a Metra train in suburban Chicago, authorities said.

The boy and the woman were pronounced dead at the scene following Sunday afternoon’s crash near Ingleside in Lake County.

The car’s driver, a 70-year-old Antioch-area man, was hospitalized with injuries that are not life-threatening, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said.

A preliminary investigation shows that the car failed to heed the rail crossing’s warning lights and drove through a gate directly into the path of the westbound train, police said.

The county coroner’s office identified those killed as 75-year-old Patricia Shemberger of Antioch and 13-year-old Noah Kucinski of Lockport. It said they both died of blunt force injuries from the crash.

The impact ejected Shemberger from the vehicle, while Kucinski was a back seat passenger. No one aboard the train was reported injured, authorities said.