Deadly New Jersey house explosion was 'not accidental': Police
A massive explosion and fire that killed two people and leveled a New Jersey home on Sunday was "not accidental," according to authorities.
The blast occurred early Sunday in the Gloucester County community of Washington Township, and neighbors said it sounded like a bomb going off.
The Washington Township Police Department said in a statement Monday morning that the explosion has prompted an "ongoing criminal investigation" and cited the Gloucester County prosecutor's office that the incident was "not accidental."
The bodies of a man and a woman, whose names have not been released, were recovered from the rubble of the house. The Gloucester County prosecutor's office told ABC Philadelphia station WPVI that the deaths are "suspicious," but declined to elaborate.
The explosion occurred at 2:02 a.m. and prompted multiple 911 calls from neighbors reporting a loud explosion and fire in the area of Tranquility Court and Orion Way, according to a statement released by the Washington Township Police.
"Responding officers arrived at 13 Tranquility Court and observed that the residence was fully engulfed in flames and appeared to have been heavily damaged by an apparent explosion," according to the police statement.
Washington Township Fire Department firefighters arrived shortly after the police and extinguished the fire, according to the statement.
The cause of the blast remains under investigation by the police department, Washington Township fire investigators, the Gloucester County Prosecutor's Office and the New Jersey Fire Marshal's Office.
"It was a real loud boom. I said, 'Something's wrong,'" Jimmy Gibson, who lives near the house that exploded, told WPVI. "The whole house was in flames... as soon as the explosion happened."
Video taken by WPVI showed damage to at least one home near the destroyed house. The footage also showed a car that had apparently been damaged in the explosion.
Neighbors who live blocks from he explosion reported being rattled awake.
"It was huge, huge; sounded like a bomb went off," neighbor Suzanne Pinto told WPVI.
Neighbor Jill Rauf told WPVI that she, her husband and dog evacuated their home upon hearing the explosion.
"I've never seen anything like that before," said Rauf, adding that the house that blew up was engulfed in flames.
