Wow, very sad story.
Two young Canadian boys strangled by python kept in apartment
The boys, 7-year-old Connor Barth and his 5-year-old brother, Noah, had been sleeping over at a friend's home that is located above Reptile Ocean pet shop in Campellton, New Brunswick. Contrary to previous reports, the reptile was not kept in the store.
Police in Canada are investigating the “sudden deaths of two young boys” who they believe were strangled by a python that escaped from its enclosure in an apartment located above a pet store in the town of Campbellton, New Brunswick.
The 15-foot snake, which has been identified as an African Rock Python, got out of its enclosure and slithered up a ventilation duct in the apartment above Reptile Ocean pet store where the boys were sleeping, CBC News reported. The two victims had been spending the night at the home of a friend, who is the son of pet store owner Jean-Claude Savoie
The bodies of the two boys — identified as Connor Barth, 7, and his brother, Noah, 5, according to The Toronto Star — were discovered early the next morning, and police arrived at the scene at approximately 6:30 a.m.
"It's believed the two boys were strangled by the snake," said Const. Julie Rogers-Marsh.
An autopsy will be performed on Tuesday.
“My body is in shock. I don’t know what to think,” Savoie told Global News.
Savoie, who told investigators that he owned the snake for more than a decade, said the two victims are the the kids of his best friend and that he discovered their bodies when he walked into the living room following the sleepover.
“I thought they were sleeping until I [saw] the hole in the ceiling. I turned the lights on, and I [saw] this horrific scene,” he said.
"This is a tragedy," Cambleton’s Deputy Mayor Ian Comeau told reporters. "The city is in shock."
