The Los Angeles Police Department’s attempt to dispose of seized fireworks ended in flames, as their planned police detonation goes wrong – injuring 17 residents in the process.
On Wednesday evening in South Los Angeles, the LAPD detonated a cache of homemade fireworks it had previously seized, causing a major explosion in a residential area at East 27th and San Pedro Streets.
The ‘failed controlled explosion’ occured at approximately 7:40pm, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake: flipping and damaging cars, and smashing windows in nearby homes:
Investigations are currently being undertaken to determine what caused the supposedly safe detonation of explosives in an iron containment vessel to go so terribly wrong.
Fireworks are illegal to buy and sell in Los Angeles, and these ones in particular were deemed too “unstable” to remove. LA police chief, Michel Moore called the fiasco the “total catastrophic failure of that containment vehicle.” He continued, saying:
Clearly, protocols were followed and pursued. But something happened in that containment vessel that should not have happened and we don’t know why. But we intend to find out why.
Six civilians, ranging from 51 to 85 years old, were taken to the hospital with minor and moderate injuries, while other residents were evacuated from the neighbourhood to a nearby Red Cross shelter set up to deal with those affected by the explosion.
For more news about Los Angeles’ chaotic police department, click here to read about the LA car chase that lasted for six hours.
