LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- Las Cruces police are investigating a Thursday afternoon collision on Roadrunner Parkway that resulted in two deaths and two injuries.

Shortly after 1 p.m. emergency crews were called to a traffic crash at the intersection of Roadrunner Parkway and Mission Road. When first responders arrived they found the occupants of a white 1996 Ford Explorer, a man and woman, dead. A passenger in a red 1995 Dodge pickup was treated at the scene and then airlifted to a hospital in El Paso, Texas.

The deceased, who appeared to be a married couple, were residents of Las Cruces. The driver of the pickup, 20-year-old Juan Chavez of Los Lunas, N.M., suffered relatively minor injuries and is being questioned by police. Chavez’s passenger, a 21-year-old man also from Los Lunas, was airlifted to Thomason Hospital in El Paso with what are believed to be non-life-threatening injuries.

Traffic investigators have learned that the Ford Explorer was traveling south on Roadrunner and began turning left, or east, onto Mission when the northbound Dodge pickup struck the passenger side of the SUV. The two occupants of the Ford Explorer appeared to have died on impact.

Speed may be a contributing factor in the collision.

The investigation is continuing and charges are pending.