SAN JOSE — Two teens and an 18-year-old man riding in a stolen car were killed Tuesday night, and another teen is in critical condition, after a high-speed crash during what San Jose police allege was a street race on Santa Clara Street.

The people who died have been identified as San Jose residents Oscar Avila Toledo, 18, and Jayleen Ciriaco, 15; and Anthony Ramos, 15, of Gilroy. Another 15-year-old boy remains hospitalized.

The San Jose Unified School District confirmed that Avila Toledo attended San Jose High School; family members said he graduated in 2014. District spokesman Jorge Quintana said grief counselors have been sent to two San Jose Unified schools, but did not disclose the second school or which crash victim attended it.

As family members stood along the road near the crash site and lit candles to remember all the teens who died, his stepmother, Jovita Martinez, said Avila Toledo was adored by his three younger brothers.

“He was a good kid,” Martinez said. “He had a lot of respect for me. He didn’t deserve this.”

At 10:56 p.m., police were alerted to two cars speeding westbound on Santa Clara Street, Sgt. Domingo Sanchez said. One of the vehicles, a gold Honda Accord, lost control near 22nd Street and crashed into a light pole and then a tree.

One of the male occupants and the girl were pronounced dead at the scene. The other two male teens were rushed to the hospital, Domingo said.

Police are still trying to determine who was driving the Honda, which investigators said was an unreported stolen vehicle taken from a location in San Jose.

Police say their preliminary investigation reveals the Honda and a dark-colored Acura were racing down Santa Clara Street at the time of the crash. The Acura did not stop and has not been located.

The witnesses who have spoken with police saw the speeding cars mid-course, so its point of origin remains officially unclear, though a relative of one of the victim’s says started near the McDonald’s restaurant on 27th Street. Police spokesman Officer Albert Morales said investigators had not interviewed the surviving teen as of Wednesday afternoon, but that there was no immediate indication the purported race was planned.

Street racing has been the target of long-running police enforcement in San Jose. But as times have changed, coordination has moved to social-media, with spot gatherings of as many as 200 motorists appearing in as quickly as an hour.

“It’s squeezing Jell-O in your hands. You push it out, and it goes to another area,” said Sgt. John Carr, supervisor of the SJPD traffic unit one of the department’s street-racing experts.

The three deaths bring the number of people who have died in traffic collisions this year in San Jose to 43.

Anyone with information about the case can contact SJPD traffic investigators at 408-277-4654 or leave a tip with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-STOP (7867) or with svcrimestoppers.org.

Check back later for updates to this story.

Contact Mark Gomez at 408-920-5869. Follow him at Twitter.com/markmgomez.