Police Suspect Murder-Suicide In Elevator Explosion In Office Building Near Boston

Wednesday, March 14th 2007, 9:10 pm

By: News On 6

LYNN, Mass. (AP) -- An elevator exploded in an office building Wednesday, and authorities began investigating it as a murder-suicide after they found the bodies of a man and woman inside.

Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said the deaths in downtown Lynn, near Boston, appeared to be a "domestic violence situation by use of an incendiary device."

The identities of the man and woman and their relationship were not known, Blodgett said. Two people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, police said.

Witnesses said a man pulled a woman into the elevator, the Daily Item of Lynn reported. Shortly afterward, an explosion engulfed the elevator, police said.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze and found the bodies. The blast shook the three-story building, said Sam Gonzales, who was in a dentist's chair on the first floor.

"The ceiling started coming down, so we got out," he said.