A three-vehicle crash Monday morning in northeast Minneapolis has left one person dead and three others injured.

Two vehicles collided in the intersection of Lowry Avenue and NE. Marshall Street about 5:20 a.m. One of the cars, a sports-utility vehicle, burst into flames and the other spun and hit a third car, said Minneapolis police spokesman John Elder.

A man in the burning SUV was pronounced dead at the scene. Three other people were taken to the hospital with injuries, Elder said.

"Since the crash occurred in the intersection, we assume there was failure to obey a traffic signal," he said. But the crash remained under investigation, he said.

The busy intersection and the nearby Lowry Avenue Bridge over the Mississippi River, closed for about five hours for investigation by the State Patrol and the police Traffic Unit, had reopened as of late morning.

Tim Harlow • 612-673-7768