Editor's note: This article was updated 10:01 p.m. Dec. 9

A fatal automobile accident on E. Ordnance Road in Glen Burnie early Dec. 9 left one person dead and sent three others to area hospitals, fire officials said.

Police officers and firefighters responded to a four-vehicle collision on E. Ordnance Road at Blades Lane in Glen Burnie. William Edward Gruber III, 24, was declared dead at the scene. Police had no address for Gruber, who was unlicensed, and a preliminary investigation has led police to believe drug usage caused Gruber to set off a chain-reaction accident.

According to police, Gruber was driving is Honda Accord east on E. Ordnance when it hit a Chevrolet Monte Carlo, driven by Linda Darnell Bohlen Lassiter, 59, of Reisterstown, from behind. Lassiter was waiting to turn left onto Blades Lane and was pushed into the Dodge Ram, driven by Kenneth Henry Jones, 68, of Glen Burnie, that was waiting ahead of her to turn onto Blades as well.

As a result of hitting Bohlen's Monte Carlo, Gruber's Accord spun across the roadway and into oncoming traffic where it was hit by a Dodge Caravan, driven by Elizabeth Charmaine Mund, 58, of Pasadena.

Gruber, who was pinned inside the wreck, had to be extricated by fire department personnel when he was pronounced dead at the scene. In the car with Gruber, Donte Edward Taylor, 23, of Baltimore suffered multiple injuries and was taken to the Shock Trauma center in serious condition.

Lassiter sustained multiple injuries as well and was taken to the Shock Trauma Center where she, too, is in serious condition. Mund, who suffered minor injuries, was taken to Baltimore-Washington Medical Center where she was treated and released. Jones suffered no injuries. Lassiter, Mund and Jones all were riding alone in their vehicles.

The investigation is ongoing and police had no further information.