16 people have been taken to hospitals after a planned detonation of illegal fireworks went wrong in a neighborhood in South Los Angeles. 3 of the injured are in serious condition while 9 of the injured include LAPD officers, along with an ATF officer. All of the injured officers are in fair condition. Los Angeles Police were attempting to destroy some of a stash of 5,000 pounds of illegal fireworks and homemade IEDs that were seized from a home on Wednesday afternoon.
The explosion took place in an armored container, but the force of the blast destroyed that container in the middle of a neighborhood. LAPD Chief Michel Moore says 10 pounds of homemade improvised explosive devices acquired from somewhere out of state were apparently mixed in and proved too powerful for the LAPD's blast container. Windows were blown out from multiple homes and several vehicles parked on the street were also badly damaged. It's unclear why the container failed. A man was arrested on suspicion of possessing the fireworks stash.