ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — Authorities say a 15-year-old boy and his disabled Vietnam veteran grandfather have been killed in a Pennsylvania apartment fire caused by a carelessly strewn marijuana pipe.
Automatic alarms summoned fire crews at about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday to the high-rise apartment in Altoona, but 69-year-old Sheldon Bare and his visiting grandson, Ryan Bare, died at a hospital.
Altoona police Lt. Jeffrey Pratt says the marijuana pipe was found near the living room couch, which was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. Police say other evidence suggests Sheldon Bare had been smoking there.
Pratt says Ryan was found in the bedroom.
The deaths have been ruled accidental, but autopsy results were not immediately available Thursday.
Sheldon Bare's sisters tell the Altoona Mirror that he was completely disabled from post-traumatic stress.