Python Allegedly Strangles Two Boys to Death in Canada
Two boys, age 5 and 7, were reportedly killed by a python while they slept at a friend's house in New Brunswick. Police are investigating the incident, but so far it appears that their deaths were simply a horrible accident.
Connor and Noah Barthe were found dead at their friend's home in New Brunswick; it's believed that a 16-foot, 100-pound python strangled the boys while they slept. The apartment they were staying in was above a pet store, and it's believed that the snake escaped from the store and managed to get into the apartment via the ventilation system.
"I thought they were sleeping until I saw the hole in the ceiling," store owner, and neighbor, Jean-Claude Savoie told Global News. His son was also in the apartment but was not harmed by the reptile. He told the Global News that the boys frequently spent the night in the apartment with their good friend.
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"I turned the lights on and I saw this horrific scene. The snake went through a ventilation system. I don't understand how it did it. It went through the ceiling… and the snake fell through the living room from the ceiling," Savoie explained. "I found the snake. It was in a hole underneath. I pinned him down and put him in a cage."
Authorities were called to the scene and took the python into custody. They have scheduled autopsies for the young boys today.
"At this point we are still trying to piece together what happened," Constable Jullie Rogers-Marsh told Reuters. "It's believed the two boys were strangled by the snake. We do know the brothers were sleeping together in one room and the friend was sleeping in another."
The community of Campbellton has been rocked by the deaths.
"I knew the kids," neighbor Diane Fournier told the CBC. "They were brothers. They played in my yard with my dogs all of the time."
"I have so many mixed reactions right now it's ridiculous," Savoie told Global News. "I can't believe this is real. My body is in shock. I don't know what to think. I feel like they're my kids."
