1 dead after explosion rocks

strip mall in New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — One person was found dead Monday after an explosion in an alley behind a strip mall in Albuquerque, New Mexico, police said. The cause of the blast was not immediately known.

Businesses in the west side mall were evacuated after the early afternoon explosion.

No other injuries were reported.

Police spokesman Simon Drobik did not immediately release the name of the person who died. He said he did not know if the person was an employee or customer at one of the businesses.

Police officers blocked off the mall, which includes a grocery store, pharmacy and other businesses.

Juan Pablo, a worker at one of the businesses, said the explosion rocked the building.

“I was in the backroom getting a phone for a customer right when I heard everything go off,” Pablo told KOB-TV. “It shook the windows.”

Firefighters happened to be at the location when they heard a loud noise and investigated.

The blast was being investigated by the Albuquerque Police Department bomb squad and agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Medical examiner: North Texas

man killed when e-cig explodes

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A medical examiner says a North Texas man was killed when an e-cigarette exploded in his face.

The Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office reports 24-year-old William Brown of Fort Worth died Jan. 29, two days after a vaporizer pen he was using at an e-cigarette shop in nearby Keller exploded. The medical examiner says shrapnel from the explosion severed his left carotid artery and peppered his skull.

A similar incident also killed a Florida man last May. Officials said 38-year-old Tallmadge D’Elia of St. Petersburg died when his exploding vape pen sent two fragments into his skull. He also suffered burns on about 80 percent of his body. The death was ruled an accident.