A sudden blast woke up a sleepy New Jersey neighborhood and killed two.
Around 2 a.m. local time on Sunday, May 11, police were called to a house on Tranquility Court in Washington Township. After the property was destroyed, two people were taken from the scene of the crime to safety. ABC 6, NBC 10, and CBS Philadelphia all had news.
The bodies belong to a man and a woman, but their identities have not been released yet, according to the news sources. Police said the event was being looked into as a “intense fire” instead of a blast.
Homes were on fire after the explosion, which was heard by neighbors as far away as two blocks away, according to CCTV video from the scene.
“You were just startled, and I’ve never felt that before.” “There was a huge explosion,” Jill Rauf, a neighbor, told CBS Philadelphia. “My 92-year-old mother screamed!” I grabbed my husband and dog and ran out of the house. We got in the car then.
She also said it was “too late” for her to go into the house where the “explosion” happened to help save people before the fire trucks got there.
Two people were killed, and the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office told CBS Philadelphia that they are investigating the case as a crime because they don’t think it was an accident. The government says there is no danger to the public and no one else was hurt.
On Monday, May 12, PEOPLE asked the Washington Township Police Department, the Washington Township Fire Investigators, the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office, and the New Jersey Division of Fire Safety for comment. They didn’t reply right away.
NBC 10 reports that while the investigation is still going on, officials have not said what may have caused the explosion that damaged at least two other homes.
“I was scared to death,” neighbor Susan Pinto told the news source. “Because I never heard an explosion like that in my life, and it just was, the house was, basically, burning to the ground very, very quickly.”
When she called 911, she said that firefighters got there quickly. She also told ABC 6 that the explosion “sounded like a bomb went off.”
“It was a real loud boom,” neighbor Jimmy Gibson told the news source. It was loud. I told you there was a problem.
“The whole house was in flames already, that fast as soon as the explosion happened. “As I was leaving the house, I called 911,” he said.
Michael Gay, who lived next door to the man who died, told NBC 10 that he would see the man walking his dog.
“He was nice.” He was good. He always did things like walk his dog. He was a great guy to talk. He’ll say hi, chats here and there,” Gay said, per the outlet. “It’s sad.” No one should have to go through that. He also said, “It’s sad to see people go out that way.”