RIDGEFIELD — A day after four Ridgefield teens died in a traffic crash, dozens of their classmates piled into the Ridgefield High School library Tuesday to meet with grief counselors. Some lingered outdoors, hugging and crying.

The tone among them was shock mixed with grief.

“Four deaths can tear a community apart,” Ridgefield High School junior Taylor Barr said, as he stood outside the school this morning.

His sentiment was echoed by the Ridgefield School District’s assistant superintendent Patricia Boles. She said the school was extending grief counseling to parents and nonstudents.

“When something happens like this in a small town, it impacts everybody,” she said. “Especially with the loss of four kids, fingers go out into the entire community.”

The reader board outside the school said: “Be in thought and prayer for our community.” Flowers and posters covered the school’s sign.

“You are in our hearts,” one poster read. “You all will be missed,” read another poster.

Fatally injured in Monday’s crash were Aja Gerrity, 17, Amanda Williams, 18, Jason Cary Carter, 18, and Richard “Ritchie” Araiza, 18. Dustin Evan Leitzell, 18, was seriously injured. His condition Tuesday morning wasn’t immediately available.

The group was heading to Ocean Park on the Long Beach peninsula to stay at a friend’s rental beach house before some of them left for college. At 11:10 a.m. Monday on Highway 30 about a mile west of Clatskanie, Ore., Gerrity, driving an Isuzu Rodeo, lost control of her SUV.

It slid broadside into the oncoming lane, Oregon State Police said. The SUV was hit by a Chevrolet van driven by Ki Young Kim, 55, of Vancouver.

OSP spokesman Lt. Gregg Hastings confirmed there was at least one other vehicle with teens ahead of Gerrity’s SUV, and that she was trying to pass a vehicle pulling a boat when the accident occurred on the two-lane highway.

A curve in the highway can be seen near the crash scene, but Hastings said the area was not particularly hazard for passing.

“It’s not a very large curve,” he said. “The highway is marked for passing in that area.”

There is no indication that alcohol was a factor in the accident, he said.

“Our investigation is continuing,” Hastings said. “It could take several days or even a couple of weeks.”

Gerrity was driving a 1999 Isuzu Rodeo. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration gave the vehicle a high rating in side-crash test results.

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Four Ridgefield teens killed in head-on collision near Clatskanie