By Shavonne Walker
shavonne.walker@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — A Mooresville man was killed early Friday morning and two others were critically injured in a three-vehicle collision on Mooresville Road, near Jones Road, said N.C. Highway Patrol Trooper A. Bahadur.

A fourth person involved was in stable condition.

Robert George Williams, 81, of Mooresville, was killed when his Honda Accord was struck head-on while he was driving east on Mooresville Road — also N.C. 150 — with his wife, Marilyn, in the passenger seat.

A Ford Explorer was behind them.

Bahadur said Williams’ vehicle was was struck by a GMC Yukon heading in the opposite direction. Bahadur said the driver of the Yukon, 29-year-old Thomas Bost, of Mount Ulla, crossed the center line, struck the Honda head-on and then hit the Ford Explorer.

The driver of the Explorer, Jerry Liner, 72, was pinned in his vehicle, and the door had to be removed to free him.

Bahadur said the Accord and Explorer stopped facing south on the eastbound shoulder. The Yukon was facing west on the westbound shoulder. The door of the Accord had to be removed to free Williams.

The trooper said Williams was wearing a seat belt and died after first responders arrived. Marilyn Williams also was wearing her seat belt, he said.

Bost was not wearing a seat belt, and he was ejected from his vehicle, Bahadur said.

Marilyn Williams was taken by ambulance and flown to Carolinas Medical Center Main in Charlotte. Bost was airlifted to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem.

Liner was taken to a hospital and was in stable condition.

Charges are pending, Bahadur said.

The road remained closed for much of the day and reopened just before 1:30 p.m.

Bahadur said that although the vehicle number on Bost’s Yukon was determined to belong to a GMC, the body of the vehicle had been converted to a Cadillac Escalade.