Community activists are calling for accountability from the Los Angeles Police Department after it detonated a homemade explosive device, which resulted in a massive blast that destroyed a containment vehicle, injured 17 people and damaged homes in South Los Angeles.
Locals say the decision to blow up the devices was reckless and irresponsible. Members of the South Central Neighborhood Council want action taken.
“What we are calling for is for the people who made the decision to detonate an explosive in the middle of a highly densely populated community to be fired immediately,” said Ron Gochez, vice president of the council.
Around 6:40 p.m. last Wednesday, police were trying to dispose of some of the close to 5,000 pounds of illegal fireworks they discovered earlier in the day by detonating them in an armored container in the 700 block of East 27th Street, near San Pedro Street, LAPD Chief Michel Moore said at a news conference that night.
Instead of containing the blast, the explosion destroyed the specially designed containment vehicle along with damaging nearby homes and businesses. Residents who lived within a block of the explosion were evacuated.
A South LA man is expected in court Tuesday afternoon on a federal charge of illegally transporting tons of explosives.
Residents wondered why the police would even consider detonating explosives in their neighborhood.
“Why didn’t they do this somewhere else?” Louis Price asked in an interview with the LA Times. Price is a local resident. He asked why police didn’t at least warn residents.
According to Price, the police had basically “made a bomb themselves” by choosing to detonate the explosives near his home.
The paper reported that investigators from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, will be looking into the explosion. The investigation will include, “questions about the fateful decision to detonate the homemade devices in the middle of a quiet street lined with homes.”
Activists like Gochez are asking for more. Gochez said he and the South Central Neighborhood Council want, “for the investigation to look into criminal charges for the people that are responsible for this.”
Gochez said of the damage, “There are some homes that are uninhabitable. Some of the small businesses in the area were also destroyed.”
The council also wants the city to pay for temporary housing for those who can not return yet and to pay for the damages.