Vigil set for Canadian boys killed by escaped python: Reports

A vigil was set for Wednesday to honor two young Canadian boys who were strangled to death in their sleep by a 14-foot python that escaped its enclosure, according to published reports.

Noah Barthe, 4, and Connor Barthe, 6, were killed earlier this week when the African rock python escaped from a cage inside a friend's apartment the boys were staying in, the AP reported. Their bodies were found Monday morning, and the snake as euthanized Tuesday.

Officials initially thought the snake escaped from a pet store below the apartment, which is owned by the father of the friend the boys were staying with, but later concluded the snake was being kept in the apartment, reports said.

The snake is mostly permitted only in zoos, reports said.