“Our hearts are shattered. There is a huge hole in my soul,” Dominic Starkenberg-Ferrari’s mom Stephanie shared

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Two high school students have died and another has been injured following a two-vehicle crash in Northern California. A mother of one of the victims was one of the first people to arrive at the devastating scene.

Just after midnight on Sunday, Sept. 13, officers were dispatched to a “major vehicle collision” near Deer Valley Road and Balfour Road in Antioch, the Antioch Police Department said in a statement.

When authorities arrived, they found two people inside a silver Infiniti who died at the scene, officials said. A third occupant was injured and transported to a nearby hospital, and the driver of the second vehicle, a white BMW, was also injured.

Police did not provide further details about the circumstances surrounding the crash, but footage from local outlets showed the Infiniti severely damaged and over the side of a steep embankment.

The two victims have since been identified as 17-year-olds Dominic Starkenberg-Ferrari and Caden Kyle, ABC affiliate KGO, Fox affiliate KTVU and Mercury News reported. They were both seniors at Liberty High School in Brentwood.

In a heart-wrenching post on social media, Stephanie Starkenberg-Ferrari wrote about learning her son, Dominic, had died that night. When he didn’t return home and wasn’t responding to her calls, she and her husband jumped into their vehicle, only to come across the flashing lights of emergency vehicles at the scene.

“I was screaming, ‘Is my son okay? Is he okay?’ My husband was beside me when the officer told us what happened,” Stephanie wrote, who also has a 13-year-old daughter. “I screamed, ‘No, no, no! This can’t be real.’ ”

The grieving mother described Dominic as her “buddy from the beginning,” whom she loved for his sense of humor.

“Our hearts are shattered. There is a huge hole in my soul,” she continued. “I go between crying, screaming, shock, and numbness.”

In a statement on social media, Principal Efa Huckaby confirmed the tragedy.

“With deep sadness, we share that two Liberty High School students passed away and another student was injured in a tragic car accident Saturday night,” Huckaby wrote.

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“Our hearts are with their families, friends, classmates, teammates, and everyone affected by this tragedy,” he continued. “This loss will be felt throughout our school community.”

An investigation into the crash is ongoing. The Antioch Police Department and the Coroner’s Division of the Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment.

Authorities have asked witnesses or people with footage of the incident to come forward by contacting Sgt. Green of the Traffic Unit at 925-779-6864, or by submitting anonymous tips directly to the department.