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Man killed in partial building collapse

Posted at 7:01 PM, May 11, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-11 22:16:56-04

A building collapse on Detroit’s west side has left one man dead and another injured.

It happened after 5:00 Wednesday night at Fenkell and Burgess.

A witness, Willie Gantt, works in the area and watched as part of the old building came down.

"It came down within seconds,” said Gantt. ”It shook the neighborhood a little bit.”

"I looked up and saw the guys running out of the building, unfortunately one them, all of the bricks collapsed on him,” said Gantt.

Gantt called 911. He watched the paramedics work on the victim, a man in his 40s.

"They tried everything they could,” said Gantt.

That man died. Another man was treated on the scene for a head injury, but was released and is expected to be fine.

Gantt said the group of men had been working on the building for about 10 days.

"They've been over here, trying to rehab the building, they're not stripping the building, they're just rehabbing it and cleaning up the neighborhood,” said Gantt.

Sources tell 7 Action News the family bought the old car wash building to fix it up and open a business.

We reached out to the victim’s family and they did not want to speak on camera.

City officials said there are no permits for work on that building.