Philadelphia's District Attorney and members of City Council are getting involved in the investigation into last week's deadly building collapse in Center City Philadelphia.
Six people were killed and 13 injured when a four-story building came crashing down on top of the Salvation Army thrift store at 22nd and Market. The collapse buried workers and shoppers inside the store, one for as long as 13 hours.
Today at 11:30 a.m, District Attorney Seth Williams will hold a news conference on the collapse.
Then at 1 p.m., members of City Council will explain the role of their special investigative committee, which was announced yesterday.
The downtown building was being demolished when it collapsed on Wednesday, killing two employees and four customers. Police say a heavy equipment operator was high on marijuana when the accident happened and he surrendered Saturday to face charges in the deaths.
In the fallout of the collapse, officials have begun inspecting hundreds of demolition sites citywide in recent days. Mayor Michael Nutter said Friday that the city is preparing to implement sweeping changes in its regulations of building demolition.
The excavator operator, Kary R. Roberts, aka Sean Benschop, surrendered Saturday to face six counts of involuntary manslaughter, 13 counts of recklessly endangering another person and one count of risking a catastrophe. His attorney said it was an accident and his client is not responsible for it.
