SAN DIEGO — The 18-year-old driving a high-end sports car the wrong way on Interstate 805 Thursday, spurring a deadly crash, was Carmel Valley resident Trevor Heitmann, a popular YouTube personality known as “McSkillet.”

California Highway Patrol confirmed the teen’s identity in a press conference Friday, after his involvement in the accident was widely reported in industry publications, by neighbors and by former classmates.

Peers at La Jolla Country Day School, Heitmann’s alma mater, told FOX 5 Friday that they were shocked and saddened to learn about the death of a peer.

Heitmann, known simply as “McSkillet,” rose to prominence in the online community surrounding the popular video game “Counter Strike: Global Offensive.” He also had a YouTube channel with nearly 900,000 subscribers. In December 2017, he uploaded a video about his car, a black McLaren 650S which he said “beats just about every other super car in a drag race.”

Officials confirmed that Heitmann was driving a 2014 McLaren the wrong direction on Interstate 805 Friday when he hit a Hyundai SUV travelling the opposite direction, sparking a crash that involved 8 cars and killed two other people.

The series of collisions involving multiple vehicles — two of which wound up in flames — occurred on the northbound side of the freeway near Miramar Road shortly after 4:30 p.m. Thursday, according to the California Highway Patrol.

Heitmann, a 43-year-old woman driving the Hyundai and 12-year-old girl riding in the Hyundai died at the scene, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office. The woman and her daughter were later identified as Aileen and Aryana Pizarro, from the College Area.

One additional person was taken to a hospital and traffic was halted on the northbound side of the freeway for several hours.

California Highway Patrol also confirmed that Heitmann was involved in two incidents leading up to the deadly crash.

Police first responded to the teen’s home on Sea Knoll Court late Thursday afternoon after his father called police about the teen speeding away from the house, hitting another family car in the process.

Then, about 30 minutes before the freeway crash, the McLaren smashed through a gate at Ashley Falls Elementary School in the Carmel Valley area before speeding off, according to San Diego police. Witnesses reported seeing the driver of a black sports car slam through the gate, get out of the car, smash a window on a school building and speed out of the campus parking lot.