Body found in SUV in Gaithersburg

Montgomery County police are investigating what may have happened to a 39-year-old man whose body was found in a white Ford Explorer Monday night in a parking lot in the 800 block of Clopper Road in Gaithersburg, WJLA reports.

A preliminary investigation suggests that the victim, whose body was found just before 10 p.m., had been with friends during the evening on Sunday. During the morning hours on Monday, the truck was observed parked in the Clopper Road parking lot. At 9 p.m., someone checked the vehicle and found the dead body inside.

Police officers who arrived at the scene were overcome by the fumes emanating from the SUV. Members of the Hazardous Incident Response Teams and the National Institutes of Health took air samples and determined that gasoline vapors were coming from the vehicle. They ventilated the area and the police investigation continued. Five police officers were transported to a local hospital where they were treated and released.