Chennai: A software professional from Chennai, her techie husband and mother died in a road accident in the US when the vehicle in which they were traveling was hit by an SUV driven by an American, who shot himself just before the collision.

The victims were identified as Moorthy Somasundaram, 33, of Coimbatore his wife Swapana, 29 from Chennai and her mother Bhuvaneswari Ponnambalam, 66. The accident happened on Sunday at Sedona in Arizona. Moorthy and his mother-in-law died on the spot. Swapana succumbed to injuries two days later.

Moorthy was driving his brand new gray 2015 Toyota Prius when a white 1996 Jeep Cherokee driven by Ross Scott Willoughby, 48, rammed into his vehicle. Willoughby had shot himself with a gun and rammed his vehicle into Moorthy’s. Willoughby's Jeep on state Route 89A had crossed the centerline and collided head-on with the car.

“This is the biggest tragedy in our family. Some family members will be leaving to the US on Thursday night,” Ms Venkitalakshmi, Swapna’s sister, said. Moorthy, who graduated from SRM engineering college, had married Swapna in 2009 and both were working in the US.