BILLERICA, MASS. (WHDH) - A Jeep Cherokee suddenly accelerated at an auto auction and struck several people before it crashed through a wall of the building Wednesday, killing at least three people and injuring 13, sources tell 7News.
RELATED: 3 killed, 13 injured when SUV crashes through crowd at Billerica auto auction
The crash occurred at around 10:15 a.m. at LynnWay Auto Auction in Billerica, authorities said.
Massachusetts State Police confirmed there were fatalities and said there was no evidence the crash was intentional.
Lahey Hospital and Medical Center said it was treating six people injured in the crash, while Lowell General Hospital said it had three others.
An auto dealer from Cambridge who witnessed the crash said he considers himself “lucky to be alive.”
“I was checking out a car that I wanted to bid on and I heard a bang,” the witness told 7’s Jonathan Hall. “This sound went off like an explosion.”
Investigators say an employee, in his 70s, mistook the accelerator pedal for the brake pedal and crashed through a crowd of auto dealers as they viewed the SUV.
“When I ran out after the explosion there were people laying all over the ground,” the witness said. “The impact must of been bad because it went through the wall.
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