2 students dead, 7 others injured after driver strikes Tennessee university cycling team: Authorities

Two student athletes were killed and seven others injured, some critically, when a driver struck members of a Tennessee university cycling team during a training ride, authorities said Wednesday.

The driver now faces multiple charges, including vehicular homicide by recklessness, officials said.

The crash involving the vehicle and cyclists occurred Wednesday morning on a highway in Carter County, in the northeastern part of the state, according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol.

The cycling team is from Milligan University, a private Christian institution in Elizabethton, school officials said. Eleven students were on the training ride at the time, according to Milligan University President Stephen Waers.

The university identified the two students who died in the crash as Haylan Engdahl and Brayden Rogers, both sophomores.

Seven other students were transported to Johnson City Medical Center, including four who are in critical condition, hospital officials said.

The university said in a statement that it is "profoundly shocked and saddened" by the incident.

"There are no words to adequately describe this level of loss. Our prayers are with all those impacted by this tragedy," the university said.

John Benfield, 69, of Newland, North Carolina, has been charged with two counts of vehicular homicide by recklessness and five counts of aggravated assault by vehicle by reckless, according to the district attorney general for Carter County.

The crash remains under investigation, authorities said.

"Our troopers are now working to determine exactly what happened," Major Roy Brown of the Tennessee Highway Patrol said during a press briefing on Wednesday. "We know the families and Milligan University deeply want answers, and we want to provide those answers, but it's our responsibility to ensure that we conduct a fair investigation thoroughly and provide facts based on that investigation."

Carter County District Attorney General Steven Finney said the driver is in custody and could face additional charges.

Finney described the cycling team as "elite."

"It's not a bunch of just club guys getting together to ride, they know what they're doing. They rode in a peloton," he said.

Waers said there are pastoral and counseling resources available on campus following the "tragic" incident.

"It is more important than ever right now that Milligan is a community gathered around Jesus, and we need Jesus deeply," Waers said during the press briefing. "We need to be gathered together. We need to help each other bear burdens that are too heavy for any one person to carry on their own, we need the comfort of Jesus, the peace of the Spirit, because this is too much."