Hours after an early-morning crash involving a sports utility vehicle and a bus carrying teenagers occurred in downtown Castle Rock, a woman involved has died, according to an announcement from the Castle Rock Police Department the afternoon of Dec. 7.

First responders were alerted shortly before 7 a.m. Dec. 7 to an accident at Fifth and Perry streets. The bus belonged to the charter school network Colorado Early Colleges, according to the department's Facebook page. An adult drove the bus, which carried five students, ages 14 to 17. Everyone on the bus was released on scene with no injuries.

The woman killed was the sole occupant of the sports utility vehicle. First responders extricated her from her vehicle and transported her to an area hospital, where she later died of her injuries.

The cause of the crash is still under investigation, according to the police department, and no further details about the victim were being released. The intersection was closed for roughly two hours, according to social media posts from the police department.

"This is a somber day for our CEC community," Sandi Brown, chief executive administrator of the Colorado Early Colleges Network, said in an emailed statement. "We are thankful that our students and bus driver are safe but are heartbroken over the loss of this precious life. On behalf of everyone at Colorado Early Colleges, our prayers and thoughts go out to the family and those impacted by this tragedy."

In the statement, school officials said an inspector from the Colorado Department of Education inspected the bus involved in the accident on Nov. 28, "so mechanical issues do not appear to be a contributing factor" to the crash.

The school is based in Colorado Springs, and also has locations in Parker, Aurora and Fort Collins.