CLEVELAND, Ohio — An elderly woman is dead after a car slammed into an apartment building that then exploded Sunday night, and police are looking for the driver and passenger who ran off shortly after the crash.
The 68-year-old woman lived in the building on E. 139th Street in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood.
Her body was found in the rubble Monday morning.
There was heartbreak outside the apartment building hours after the woman’s body was recovered.
‘It's a crime at this point,” said Cleveland Fire Lt. Mike Norman.
Norman says a Dodge Challenger hit the building, rupturing a gas line.
Fire crews were next door where the car ended up in a house when the building blew.
Fire investigators believe the explosion blew the apartment out from under.
Norman said the driver and passenger bailed and city cameras are being checked.
“They must have been moving pretty good if they hit that apartment building that hard and still got through,” Norman said.
Norman said of the nearly 60 firefighters who fought the flames, two were hurt.
Cleveland Building and Housing has assigned an inspector and hired someone to remove the debris.
But demolition won’t happen until the police investigation is complete.
“I’m sure they got a lot of questions,” neighbor Akil Moore said.
Moore stopped by to look at the damage and was saddened by the loss of life.
“To hear that somebody met their demise last night at the end of a great day is very heartbreaking, very heartbreaking,” Moore said.
Cleveland Council Member Deborah Gray consoled neighbors.
‘Just to know that how this happened and someone died from reckless behavior from whoever was driving this car down the street,” Gray said.
Gray knows the building owner, who she says created a resource for the community.
"She gets residents who aren’t able to find their own place and coming into town and need a temporary place to stay,” Gray said.
The building owner wasn’t ready to talk on camera but says the woman who died returned to Cleveland from Atlanta about a month ago.
She says her friend loved it here and being back home in Cleveland.
“It's terrible, I mean it’s overwhelming,” Gray said.
A second woman was rescued from the debris but wasn’t hurt.
Any tips on this case can be sent to the Cleveland Police Accident Investigation Unit at 216-623-5295.
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