Several illegal rocket explosions have spooked residents of South Los Angeles and made them fear that chaos may strike again.
A video on social media shows what appears to be several men lighting boxes of fireworks, which were placed in the middle of a street for half a block, sending the rockets skyward amid loud explosions and thick smoke.
The blasts happened around 9:30 p.m. Sunday at Gramercy Place near 60th Street and lasted nearly 45 minutes. Nery Rossell felt the powerful explosions from his home.
“I thought it was like a war zone or something, because it was so big and loud,” Rossell said.
Another local resident, Leon Wilson, said someone told him to leave one side of the street and go the other because there were going to be several explosions. Wilson said two pickup trucks were blocking each side of the street, presumably to prevent other vehicles from crossing the area. Some 200 people came to see the fireworks and left immediately after the show ended, Wilson said.
The police and fire brigade intervened but could not find those responsible,
No injuries were reported, but the incident left residents clearing up debris created by the rockets. These residents said they did not want what happened to become a common occurrence.
“You can feel the earth shaking. These are tremors, these are explosions. Yeah, it’s kinda scary,” Rossell said.