Before and after photos of explosion that rocked L.A. block: ‘Everybody was screaming, going crazy’
Fireworks continue to fill the sky as emergency personnel respond to the explosion of a LAPD semitruck used to contain and detonate destruct explosives.
The Los Angeles Police Department is promising a full investigation amid growing questions about the agency’s handling of a fireworks seizure in South Los Angeles that ended with a huge explosion that injured 17 people.
The blast occurred Wednesday inside an LAPD semitruck that had been used to contain and safely detonate fireworks and other explosives.
The truck was parked in front of a house in a residential neighborhood where the fireworks were found. Law enforcement officials and residents were in the area at the time. Cars and some homes were damaged by the blast.
South L.A. residents are evacuated next to a LAPD semitruck that had been used to contain and safely detonate fireworks and other explosives.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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An officer wraps duct tape around fireworks using a broom handle near East 27th Street and San Pedro Street in South L.A.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
LAPD officers and a bomb squad use a forklift to move some of the 5,000 pounds of fireworks from a South L.A. neighborhood.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
Fire crews on scene where an LAPD semitruck exploded Wednesday.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
Broken glass sits on a sidewalk and street after a fireworks explosion in Los Angeles.
(Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press)
Fire, police and bomb squad members gather at the scene of the explosion in South Los Angeles.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
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On scene.
(Ringo H.W. Chiu / Associated Press )
Authorities investigate.
(Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times)
A car is flipped on its side by the force of the fireworks explosion.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Windows of a business were blown out by the force of the fireworks explosion.
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