<\/p>\n
A resident of Italy, Marco Ricchi, 46, and a Fort Lewis College student, Allen Duke, 23, were identified as the men who died from injuries suffered Saturday when they were hit by an SUV while walking along Main Avenue.<\/p>\n
Durango Police Department Sgt. Rita Warfield also identified the driver of the Chevrolet Suburban, 76-year-old Bobby Lehmann, who lives in both Durango and Texas.<\/p>\n
Warfield said Ricchi was visiting Durango. He was pronounced dead at the scene.<\/p>\n
Duke was taken to Mercy Regional Medical Center with severe injuries, and died there.<\/p>\n
Lehmann was uninjured.<\/p>\n
The investigation is still ongoing, and circumstances of crash remain unclear, Warfield said<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were a lot of witnesses, and our detectives are getting all the information together to try to determine what caused this to happen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
No charges have been filed as of Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Around 4 p.m. Saturday, Lehmann was northbound on Main Avenue in a white Chevrolet Suburban with a Texas license plate when the vehicle jumped the curb.<\/p>\n
The vehicle came to a stop between the Royal Motel and a sign, Detective Josh Newman said Saturday. The two pedestrians were on the sidewalk, but they were not together.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a tragic accident,\u201d Warfield said.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, red roses were placed at two different locations outside the Royal Motel where the two men were killed. In one spot, someone left a crucifix with the word \u201cHope\u201d on it, as well as a bag of candy.<\/p>\n
Efforts to reach Ricchi\u2019s family were unsuccessful Sunday. According to his Facebook page, he was from Latina, Italy, about an hour\u2019s drive south of Rome.<\/p>\n
Posts to his page indicate Ricchi was visiting Durango on vacation with a friend to run a marathon. Pictures from the past few weeks show the two men on a Southwestern tour through the Grand Canyon, Valley of the Gods and Monument Valley.<\/p>\n
In his last post, Ricchi uploaded photos of Durango, which show he had taken the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad just days before his death.<\/p>\n
More then 100 posts of condolences had been placed on his page Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Duke was studying accounting, said his friend and co-worker Gus Elbert. The two knew each other since their freshman year four years ago.<\/p>\n
Elbert said Duke was on his way to work at the Adode Inn when he was hit. He said Duke walked every day to work.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a really easy going, polite kid,\u201d he said. \u201cHe just had a lot of friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Duke\u2019s Facebook page, he\u2019s from Parker, a town about 25 miles southeast of Denver.<\/p>\n
Information was not immediately available about the driver, Lehmann.<\/p>\n