Escaped python kills 2 young boys

Two young boys are dead after being strangled by a python while staying at a friend’s home in New Brunswick.

The brothers had been visiting the apartment of a friend whose father owned an exotic pet store on the floor below, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sgt. Alain Tremblay said at a news conference in Campbellton. Tremblay said the African rock python was being kept inside the second floor apartment, not inside the pet store as authorities had previously stated.

A snake expert said it was possible that the python was spooked and simply clung to whatever it landed on. Police are treating the deaths in Campbellton, New Brunswick, as a criminal investigation.

The friend of the boys was sleeping in another room and was unharmed.

The pet store owner, Jean-Claude Savoie, told the Global News television station that he didn't hear a sound and discovered the "horrific scene" when he went into his living room on Monday morning. -- CBSNEWS.com

A shocked community in Canada planned a vigil Wednesday for the boys.

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