A Chicago woman returning to her North Side apartment Sunday took the elevator to her floor without knowing that a fire was raging.
When the elevator door opened, Shantel McCoy, 32, was hit with a “superheated blast” and died. The marketing executive, who had moved to Chicago a year ago, was found in the elevator by firefighters.
The fire, which broke out on the 12th floor of the building at around 2 a.m., started in the apartment of a couple who escaped with their dog. Unfortunately for McCoy, they left their front door open, and when the elevator door opened, she was hit directly with the fire. If the door had been closed, McCoy would have survived.