Vehicle accelerates during auto auction in Massachusetts, killing at least 2

BILLERICA, Mass. -- A vehicle suddenly accelerated at an auto auction and struck several people before it crashed through a wall of the building Wednesday, killing at least two people.

The crash occurred at around 10:15 a.m. at LynnWay Auto Auction in Billerica, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) northwest of Boston.

Massachusetts State Police confirmed there were fatalities and said there was no evidence the crash was intentional. It did not give a number of casualties.

Woody Tuttle, an auto auction employee who saw the crash, told WCVB-TV that the building has eight lanes in which vehicles on the auction block line up. People were standing between the lanes when one vehicle suddenly took off, Tuttle said.

"I heard a screeching of tires, and, I believe, a Jeep Cherokee went flying by me," he told the station. "In avoiding the cars, whoever was driving this vehicle hit several people."

The vehicle then went through the wall of the building, Tuttle said.

"(The driver) avoided the cars, and went on to hit the people who were standing between the cars," Tuttle told WCVB-TV.

Images from TV helicopters show a vehicle covered in debris. Medics wheeled people out of the building on gurneys.

Lahey Hospital and Medical Center said it was treating six people injured in the crash, while Lowell General Hospital said it was treating three others.

In 2015, an SUV driven by an elderly man hurtled through an auto auction in the Boston suburb of Framingham, striking other cars, patrons and a cinder block wall and injuring eight people. No charges were filed.

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