LAPD Chief Michel Moore said three box trucks and a 53-foot trailer were brought in to load up the fireworks and move them to a safe location. However, 'improvised explosives' also were found that were too dangerous to move.
He described them as 40 home-made devices the size of Coca-Cola cans with simple fuses and 200 smaller but similar devices.
The material was taken to a 'total containment vehicle,' Moore said. The multi-ton semi-tractor trailer rig has a spherical iron chamber that is designed to safely detonate explosives.
Moore said less than 10 pounds of material was placed in the chamber, far less than its safety rating.
'This vessel should have been able to safely dispose of that material,' LAPD Chief Michel Moore said at a press conference on Wednesday night.
'And you saw the resulting damage, and the total catastrophic failure of that containment vehicle,' Moore said.
'Something happened in that containment vehicle that should not have happened, and we don't know why,' Moore said. 'But we intend to find out why.'
The blast, caught by news crews, happened in a residential area. It knocked a nearby car on its side, smashed the windows of several others and blew out windows in a neighboring home.
One news helicopter pilot said the blast shook his aircraft, and some residents two blocks away say they were jolted by the explosion.
Nine police officers were injured, along with one ATF officer, the Los Angeles Fire Department said in a statement.
Six civilians, ranging from 51 to 85 years old, were taken to a hospital, three with moderate and three with minor injuries, it said. One other person was treated at the scene but declined to be taken to hospital.
10 pounds of material in 40 pop can size explosives ? would like to know what the hell that was. the brief report I saw gave the impression that it all was placed in the vessel.
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I will hazard a guess that in one of the boxes not inside the containment sphere contained some liquid like nitro, or it set off a some explosive setup hooked to a timer. In fact the entire process of an informer leading the cops to the huge stash of fireworks may have been a setup just for the end result to happen.
Deletenotice how the explosion tips the car onto its side and knocks over only two of the three rubbish bins.
ReplyDeleteLots of crime scene forensics is going to be needed here. Was this another set up? Will we ever know the truth?
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