Crime & Safety

Update: Simi Valley Fireworks Show Accident Injures 28 Onlookers

NOTE: The following videos, as posted on YouTube, are made up of raw footage. Note some contain adult language.

Article updated at 12:15 a.m. — The Simi Valley Fourth of July fireworks show was canceled Thursday night after a fireworks malfunction caused injury to 28 people.

Not long into the fireworks show, at about 9:15 p.m., a number of fireworks detonated on ground level instead of being launched into the air.

Moorpark residents and others living miles away from Rancho Santa Susana Community Park, where the fireworks show took place, reported feeling the explosion.

Of the 28 injured, four people were considered in serious condition, according to Commander Stephanie Shannon of the Simi Valley Police Department. Injuries were consistant with shrapnel and projectile injuries, but the department was making no further statement about the condition of those injured, she said.

Shannon said the police department is working with the fireworks company as well as the Ventura County Fire Department in an ongoing investigation into what caused the malfunction.

"At this point the nature of the accident looks to be a completely industrial-related accident. It does not appear to be any sort of foul play," Shannon said.

As of midnight, law enforcement officials were still on the scene and SVPD personnel were awaiting the sheriff's department bomb squad because live ordinances remained on the field, Shannon added.

NOTE: The above videos, as posted on YouTube, are made up of raw footage. Note some contain adult language.


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