A crash near a busy Bridgeport shopping center left at least one person dead and four people hospitalized Tuesday morning.

A car fatally struck a pedestrian and then another car on Huntington Turnpike around 11:30 a.m., police say.

John MacNicholl, of the Bridgeport Fire Department, says rescuers had to use the Jaws of Life to remove a victim from one of the vehicles.

Investigators spent the afternoon reconstructing the accident and taking photographs of the scene. They identified the victim as Michelle Crooks, a 50-year-old city resident. She was pronounced dead at a hospital.

Witnesses say a BMW speeding down the turnpike hit a woman and then spun out of control, slamming into a silver Honda that was waiting to leave a gas station.

Police say a 41-year-old Trumbull woman was driving the BMW. She and three people from the Honda are all in critical condition at Bridgeport and St. Vincent's hospitals, respectively.

Authorities are urging drivers to drive the speed limit, pay attention to the road and ignore distractions like their smartphones.