MILWAUKEE — An investigation is underway after a person was found dead in a car fire Tuesday morning on Milwaukee’s north side.
Firefighters were called to 10th and Burleigh shortly after 9:30 a.m. and found a car on fire next to a garage. After extinguishing the blaze, which had partially spread to the garage, crews found one person dead inside the vehicle, according to a fire department release.
“It looks horrible,” neighbor Kamya Perry said. “The garage is burnt. This is a sad scene.”
Perry, who lives near where the person was found dead inside the car, said the car belonged to a woman she helped on Monday.
“My heart just hurts that whoever was in that car had to go out that way,” she said.
Other neighbors TMJ4 spoke with said they heard a loud boom and came out to see the car in flames before fire crews arrived.
“The car was on fire and it caught onto the garage,” said neighbor Jermaine Evans. “I knocked on the people’s house because I didn’t know if their house was on fire or not, and then they discovered there was a body in there.”
Watch: Person found dead in burned car near 10th and Burleigh:
Both police and firefighters came to the scene to investigate. Crews searched the garage and nothing was found, leaving the aftermath of the scene: a torched car with all of its windows blown out. The fire department said it's working to figure out how the fire started.
Meanwhile, the police department says it’s still unclear whether a crime occurred.
“Does it leave you with questions about how this could have happened?” TMJ4 reporter Ben Jordan asked.
“I have the same question,” Perry said. “How could this happen? Her car has been sitting here for years. We’ve been here for almost two years. Her car’s been in the same spot. Nothing has moved, a fire hasn’t happened. I don't know. I don’t understand what could have happened.”
TMJ4 has yet to hear back from the medical examiner’s office on the identity of the victim.
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