PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Law enforcement sources say a burning body was found Thursday morning in an alley near an elementary school in the Olney section of the city.
Around 6:30 a.m., firefighters were called out to Marshall Street near West Duncannon Avenue. They realized it was a woman's body on fire and called in homicide detectives.
One detective said they believe the victim was a woman between the ages of 20 and 40. Police are still working to identify the body.
The site is next to Thurgood Marshall Elementary School, behind a row of houses, next to a community garden.
"It’s hard to see this," said Nadine Kelly, a neighbor on the other side of the alley on Marshall Street.
Kelly says she has lived in the area for 15 years, and she always felt safe because her house was steps away from an elementary school.
"For me to actually see something like this, so dramatic, yeah, it’s hard," she said.
She says the discovery of the body on fire is traumatic for everyone in the community.
"It's hard for our young kids to see this, for them to go to school and, you know, have to deal with this."
Meanwhile, Kelly is urging her neighbors to show compassion and to help, no matter who the woman was.
"Listen, we need to get out here and help each other, because at the end of the day we have to live around here," she said.
"I don’t know actually what happened to her, but at the end of the day, we have to think about her, her family, her sisters, her brothers, her kids, her nephews. We don’t know."