DES PLAINES, Ill. — Two pedestrians are dead and three others are injured after a driver crashed into a building Sunday afternoon in Des Plaines.
The crash was reported around 12:15 p.m. in the 400 block of Northwest Highway.
Des Plaines Fire Department Deputy Chief Matt Matzl said the driver of an SUV struck a building and a gas main.
A 42-year-old woman and an 80-year-old man, who were hit during the crash, died, Des Plaines Police Department Cmdr. Matt Bowler said in a press release.
The driver of the car, a 71-year-old man, and two children who were in the car at the time of the crash, suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Bowler said.
A tenant of the building told WGN said the vehicle struck a conference room and nobody was working inside at the time of the crash.
A witness said they are grateful no one was inside but heartbroken to know two people have died.
“I just thought it was another person, just speeding down, but then I heard the crash and ran inside,” Ben Smith said.
Smith said he was outside when everything happened in the blink of an eye.
“I see it coming in pretty fast but I didn’t see if it swerved or anything,” Smith said. “That’s what I’m assuming.”
The crash is still under investigation but Bowler said investigators don’t believe drugs or alcohol were factors in the crash.
Seventh ward Ald. Patsy Smith said she is heartbroken by the incident and will work to see how the community can come together for those impacted.
“I really give my condolences to the two people that were lost,” Smith said. “