SUV suddenly takes off, crashes during auto auction; 3 dead

BILLERICA, Mass. (AP) — A SUV being shown to prospective buyers at a crowded indoor auto auction suddenly accelerated with a screech of its tires and crashed through a wall this morning, killing three people and injuring nine.

An auction employee in his 70s was behind the wheel of the 2008 Jeep Grand Cherokee when it apparently lurched out of control and mowed people down at LynnWay Auto Auction in Billerica, about 20 miles northwest of Boston.

One man and two women were killed in the crash, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said at a news conference. Nine people were hurt, including two with life-threatening injuries, she said. The driver wasn't hospitalized, she said.

"The preliminary investigation suggests this is a tragic accident," Ryan said.

Massachusetts State Police investigators are working to reconstruct the accident, which happened while several hundred people were in the building.

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.