Police believe a wrong-way driver who caused a fiery and deadly crash on the Gerald Desmond Bridge Saturday morning is the same man who crashed through barricades set up for the Special Olympic athletes competing in Long Beach later that same morning.

Long Beach police received reports that a man in a 2012 Mercedes-Benz sedan was “driving erratically and crashing through barricades” in the area of the Special Olympic half-marathon, according to a Long Beach Police Department press release issued Saturday night.

Long Beach police spokeswoman Marlene Arrona said the athletes were not on the course at the time, and no injuries were reported.

Officers attempted to follow the car through the downtown bicycle path after it struck numerous objects but lost sight of the vehicle, police said.

Witnesses to a three-car crash on the Gerald Desmond Bridge at about 7:11 a.m. alerted officers that it may have involved the erratic driver from earlier in the morning. Police have since identified the driver as Alvin Ray Shaw, 28, of Hawthorne.

The crash killed a man driving a pickup truck and closed the southern link between Long Beach and San Pedro for hours.

Shaw and the driver of a Ford Fusion, an unidentified 21-year-old from San Pedro, are hospitalized in critical condition. Authorities have yet to identify the driver of the pickup truck.

In addition, a police officer who tried to aid the pickup driver was hospitalized after injuring his arm, said Jake Heflin, spokesman for the Long Beach Fire Department.

• Video: Long Beach fire spokesman describes the accident

Police said Shaw entered the eastbound lanes of Ocean Boulevard at Golden Shore traveling westbound towards the Gerald Desmond Bridge against eastbound traffic.

At the crest of the bridge, Shaw allegedly collided with the Fusion and the Nissan pickup, both of which were traveling eastbound, police said.

The 7:11 a.m. crash, which remains under investigation, initially closed the bridge in both directions with police warning motorists to stay away from the area. Westbound lanes of the bridge were reopened around 11:30 a.m. Eastbound lanes reopened about 3 p.m.

Tony Seymour, a 54-year-old San Pedro resident, was crossing the bridge on his way to Irvine when the accident happened.

“I was probably four rows [of vehicles] back,” Seymour said. “It seemed so surreal.”

At first, none of the vehicles caught fire, Seymour said. A short time later, a few flames could be seen emanating from the Mercedes. It wasn’t long after that the pickup caught fire too.

“It just burst into flames,” Seymour said.

Police officers arrived and tried to put out the fires with fire extinguishers, he said. The flames would die down momentarily only to come back stronger.

Then firefighters arrived.

Seymour said he saw a firefighter reach into the Mercedes, turn around and throw up.

“He just emptied his guts,” he said. “There was someone in the back of the Mercedes. They were desperate to get this guy out. All I could hear was screaming.”

Long Beach fire spokesman Heflin described the pickup truck as “well involved” in flames.

“Unfortunately, the driver of that vehicle is our confirmed fatality,” he said.

Fire officials contacted the U.S. Coast Guard about gas and oil from the accident on the bridge leaking into the water, Heflin said.

Police said it is unknown whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call Detective Sirilo Garcia at 562-570-7355. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous may call 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), or text TIPLA plus your tip to 274637 (CRIMES), or visit www.LACrimeStoppers.org.

Greg Yee contributed to this report.

Police believe a wrong-way driver who caused a fiery and deadly crash on the Gerald Desmond Bridge Saturday morning is the same man who crashed through barricades set up for the Special Olympic athletes competing in Long Beach later that same morning.

Long Beach police received reports that a man in a 2012 Mercedes-Benz sedan was “driving erratically and crashing through barricades” in the area of the Special Olympic half-marathon, according to a Long Beach Police Department press release issued Saturday night.

Long Beach police spokeswoman Marlene Arrona said the athletes were not on the course at the time, and no injuries were reported.

Officers attempted to follow the car through the downtown bicycle path after it struck numerous objects but lost sight of the vehicle, police said.

Witnesses to a three-car crash on the Gerald Desmond Bridge at about 7:11 a.m. alerted officers that it may have involved the erratic driver from earlier in the morning. Police have since identified the driver as Alvin Ray Shaw, 28, of Hawthorne.

The crash killed a man driving a pickup truck and closed the southern link between Long Beach and San Pedro for hours.

Shaw and the driver of a Ford Fusion, an unidentified 21-year-old from San Pedro, are hospitalized in critical condition. Authorities have yet to identify the driver of the pickup truck.

In addition, a police officer who tried to aid the pickup driver was hospitalized after injuring his arm, said Jake Heflin, spokesman for the Long Beach Fire Department.

• Video: Long Beach fire spokesman describes the accident

Police said Shaw entered the eastbound lanes of Ocean Boulevard at Golden Shore traveling westbound towards the Gerald Desmond Bridge against eastbound traffic.

At the crest of the bridge, Shaw allegedly collided with the Fusion and the Nissan pickup, both of which were traveling eastbound, police said.

The 7:11 a.m. crash, which remains under investigation, initially closed the bridge in both directions with police warning motorists to stay away from the area. Westbound lanes of the bridge were reopened around 11:30 a.m. Eastbound lanes reopened about 3 p.m.

Tony Seymour, a 54-year-old San Pedro resident, was crossing the bridge on his way to Irvine when the accident happened.

“I was probably four rows [of vehicles] back,” Seymour said. “It seemed so surreal.”

At first, none of the vehicles caught fire, Seymour said. A short time later, a few flames could be seen emanating from the Mercedes. It wasn’t long after that the pickup caught fire too.

“It just burst into flames,” Seymour said.

Police officers arrived and tried to put out the fires with fire extinguishers, he said. The flames would die down momentarily only to come back stronger.

Then firefighters arrived.

Seymour said he saw a firefighter reach into the Mercedes, turn around and throw up.

“He just emptied his guts,” he said. “There was someone in the back of the Mercedes. They were desperate to get this guy out. All I could hear was screaming.”

Long Beach fire spokesman Heflin described the pickup truck as “well involved” in flames.

“Unfortunately, the driver of that vehicle is our confirmed fatality,” he said.

Fire officials contacted the U.S. Coast Guard about gas and oil from the accident on the bridge leaking into the water, Heflin said.

Police said it is unknown whether drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash.

Anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to call Detective Sirilo Garcia at 562-570-7355. Anyone wishing to remain anonymous may call 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), or text TIPLA plus your tip to 274637 (CRIMES), or visit www.LACrimeStoppers.org.

Greg Yee contributed to this report.

LONDON >> Three relatives of the late al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden were among four people killed when a private jet crashed on landing in southern England, British police confirmed Saturday.

The Hampshire Police force said formal post-mortems were still being conducted, but the victims were believed to be “the mother, sister and brother-in-law of the owner of the aircraft, all of whom are from the bin Laden family.” It said all three were Saudi nationals who were visiting Britain on vacation. The plane’s Jordanian pilot also died.

Arab media and NBC News named the relatives as Osama Bin Laden’s stepmother Rajaa Hashim, his sister Sana bin Laden and her husband Zuhair Hashim.

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Britain, Prince Mohammed Bin Nawaf Bin Abdel-Aziz, offered his condolences to the wealthy bin Laden family, which owns a major construction company in Saudi Arabia.

“The embassy will follow up on the incident and its circumstances with the concerned British authorities and work on speeding up the handover of the bodies of the victims to the kingdom for prayer and burial,” the ambassador said in a statement tweeted by the embassy.

Police said the Embraer Phenom 300 executive jet crashed into a parking lot and burst into flames while trying to land at Blackbushe Airport in southern England Friday afternoon.

The plane was flying from Malpensa Airport in Milan to the airfield about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southwest of London, which is used by private planes and flying clubs.

No one on the ground was hurt. Police and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch launched a joint investigation.

Andrew Thomas, who was at a car auction sales center based at the airport, told the BBC that “the plane nosedived into the cars and exploded on impact.” He said he saw the plane and several cars in flames.

The plane’s pilot was Mazen Salem al-Dajah, a Jordanian in his late 50s. His brother Ziad told The Associated Press that al-Dajah’s family had been told of his death by a representative of the bin Laden family’s corporation. He said al-Dajah received his pilot’s license in California about 25 years ago and had been employed by the bin Laden family.

The bin Laden family disowned Osama in 1994 when Saudi Arabia stripped him of his citizenship because of his militant activities. The al-Qaida leader was killed by U.S. special forces in Pakistan in 2011.

The family is a large and wealthy one. Osama bin Laden’s billionaire father Mohammed had more than 50 children and founded the Binladen Group, a sprawling construction conglomerate awarded many major building contracts in the Sunni kingdom.

Mohammed bin Laden died in a plane crash in Saudi Arabia in 1967. One of his sons, Salem, was killed when his ultralight aircraft flew into power lines in San Antonio, Texas, in 1988.

___

Gambrell reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Maamoun Youssef in Cairo and Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan contributed to this report.

LONDON >> Three relatives of the late al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden were among four people killed when a private jet crashed on landing in southern England, British police confirmed Saturday.

The Hampshire Police force said formal post-mortems were still being conducted, but the victims were believed to be “the mother, sister and brother-in-law of the owner of the aircraft, all of whom are from the bin Laden family.” It said all three were Saudi nationals who were visiting Britain on vacation. The plane’s Jordanian pilot also died.

Arab media and NBC News named the relatives as Osama Bin Laden’s stepmother Rajaa Hashim, his sister Sana bin Laden and her husband Zuhair Hashim.

Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Britain, Prince Mohammed Bin Nawaf Bin Abdel-Aziz, offered his condolences to the wealthy bin Laden family, which owns a major construction company in Saudi Arabia.

“The embassy will follow up on the incident and its circumstances with the concerned British authorities and work on speeding up the handover of the bodies of the victims to the kingdom for prayer and burial,” the ambassador said in a statement tweeted by the embassy.

Police said the Embraer Phenom 300 executive jet crashed into a parking lot and burst into flames while trying to land at Blackbushe Airport in southern England Friday afternoon.

The plane was flying from Malpensa Airport in Milan to the airfield about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southwest of London, which is used by private planes and flying clubs.

No one on the ground was hurt. Police and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch launched a joint investigation.

Andrew Thomas, who was at a car auction sales center based at the airport, told the BBC that “the plane nosedived into the cars and exploded on impact.” He said he saw the plane and several cars in flames.

The plane’s pilot was Mazen Salem al-Dajah, a Jordanian in his late 50s. His brother Ziad told The Associated Press that al-Dajah’s family had been told of his death by a representative of the bin Laden family’s corporation. He said al-Dajah received his pilot’s license in California about 25 years ago and had been employed by the bin Laden family.

The bin Laden family disowned Osama in 1994 when Saudi Arabia stripped him of his citizenship because of his militant activities. The al-Qaida leader was killed by U.S. special forces in Pakistan in 2011.

The family is a large and wealthy one. Osama bin Laden’s billionaire father Mohammed had more than 50 children and founded the Binladen Group, a sprawling construction conglomerate awarded many major building contracts in the Sunni kingdom.

Mohammed bin Laden died in a plane crash in Saudi Arabia in 1967. One of his sons, Salem, was killed when his ultralight aircraft flew into power lines in San Antonio, Texas, in 1988.

___

Gambrell reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Maamoun Youssef in Cairo and Omar Akour in Amman, Jordan contributed to this report.

AGOURA HILLS >> A 70-year-old man was killed Friday and a second person was injured in a two-vehicle collision in Agoura Hills involving a Los Angeles County Fire Department vehicle.

The collision occurred about 5 p.m. on Mulholland Highway near Kanan Dume Road, according to a county fire department dispatcher.

The vehicle that collided with the fire department truck, described as a camp crew carrier, went off the side of the road and firefighters cut its roof off to free someone trapped inside, according to reports from the scene. It’s unclear if that was the deceased victim or the person who was injured.

A fire department dispatcher said the injured person was taken to a hospital for treatment, but that person’s gender, age and condition were not immediately available.

The firefighter driving the crew carrier was uninjured, but there were at least 15 inmates from Fire Camp 13 in Malibu riding in the vehicle and they were being assessed for injuries, said Ed Pickett, a county fire department dispatch supervisor.

The crew carrier had damage to its front end, while the other vehicle appeared to have been struck on its side.

The crash closed Mulholland Highway in both directions and a SigAlert was issued, according to the CHP.

Kanan Dume Road was also closed at the intersection with Mulholland, the CHP reported.

AGOURA HILLS >> A 70-year-old man was killed Friday and a second person was injured in a two-vehicle collision in Agoura Hills involving a Los Angeles County Fire Department vehicle.

The collision occurred about 5 p.m. on Mulholland Highway near Kanan Dume Road, according to a county fire department dispatcher.

The vehicle that collided with the fire department truck, described as a camp crew carrier, went off the side of the road and firefighters cut its roof off to free someone trapped inside, according to reports from the scene. It’s unclear if that was the deceased victim or the person who was injured.

A fire department dispatcher said the injured person was taken to a hospital for treatment, but that person’s gender, age and condition were not immediately available.

The firefighter driving the crew carrier was uninjured, but there were at least 15 inmates from Fire Camp 13 in Malibu riding in the vehicle and they were being assessed for injuries, said Ed Pickett, a county fire department dispatch supervisor.

The crew carrier had damage to its front end, while the other vehicle appeared to have been struck on its side.

The crash closed Mulholland Highway in both directions and a SigAlert was issued, according to the CHP.

Kanan Dume Road was also closed at the intersection with Mulholland, the CHP reported.

A three-car crash has backed up the bypass lane on the southbound 15 Freeway in the Cajon Pass prompting a SigAlert, officials said.

According to reports the crash happened around 11:30 a.m. just south of Highway 138.

It’s unclear when California Highway Patrol will lift the SigAlert or if any injuries resulted from the crash.

A three-car crash has backed up the bypass lane on the southbound 15 Freeway in the Cajon Pass prompting a SigAlert, officials said.

According to reports the crash happened around 11:30 a.m. just south of Highway 138.

It’s unclear when California Highway Patrol will lift the SigAlert or if any injuries resulted from the crash.

BEAUMONT – An adult and a child in a Toyota Corolla were killed in a three-vehicle collision in Beaumont and two other children in the car were injured, police said today.

The children were hospitalized in serious-to-critical condition, Beaumont Police Department Cmdr. Greg Fagan.

The driver of a Ford pickup truck that was also involved in the collision was also hospitalized, but his condition was not known, Fagan said.

The collision occurred at 2:09 p.m. Wednesday at the intersection of Beaumont Avenue and First Street, Fagan said.

The Toyota Corolla was struck by the Ford pickup truck and then collided with a Dodge pickup, Fagan said.

The cause of the accident was under investigation, Fagan said.