COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Update 7:30 p.m. Monday
A Colorado Springs man was seriously injured when a homemade firework exploded in his backyard.
It happened around 8:30 Sunday night in the 1400 block of Calvert Ave.
Police said the 47-year-old man was putting together a homemade firework launcher when it accidentally exploded, sending pieces of metal flying through the air.
"Well we heard a big bang, and the gentleman that was playing cards with me is ex-military and he said it sounded like someone put fireworks under a bucket," Neighbor Marleen Berendt said.
Berendt lives a few houses down from where the explosion happened.
She said she walked up the street to see dozens of cops and an ambulance taking her neighbor away.
Police said the man suffered injuries to his stomach from shrapnel from the device.
"Initially we thought they might be life threatening, but the latest information that I received is that it is not life threatening now, obviously there is still the potential though," Lt. Thomas Harris with the Colorado Springs Police Department said.
Along with the fire and police departments, a bomb squad and hazmat team were called in to search the property.
They found additional explosive devices at the scene, which were also removed.
Lt. Harris said the man could be charged because constructing homemade fireworks is illegal.
"That will be up to the investigating officers on scene as to what they found, and how it falls in categorically, but I would surmise there will be some sort of charges," Lt. Harris said.
Other neighbors FOX21 spoke with said they too heard the explosion, and added they called 911 when they saw their neighbor on the ground in his backyard.
Berendt said it is the most commotion the area has seen in awhile.
"It is usually pretty quiet because we are an old neighborhood," Berendt said.
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Update:
A homemade firework left a Colorado Springs man with serious injuries when it blew up and sent shrapnel into his torso.
The accident happened Sunday night, when police say a firecracker consisting of a metal tube attached to a fuse went off at a house in west Colorado Springs.
Parts of the firecracker had been welded, but police are still investigating what was in the device.
The injured man has not been identified. Colorado Springs Sgt. Jim Jeffcoat says a witness is being interviewed but gave no details about possible criminal charges in the accident.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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Original Story:
A Colorado Springs man is in the hospital Monday morning from an accident involving fireworks.
Police and firefighters received a call about an explosion on the 1400 Block of Calvert Avenue just after 8 p.m. Sunday and found the victim lying in the backyard of a residence with serious internal injuries.
Police say the victim had constructed a homemade explosive to be used as a firework's launcher and the device exploded when he and others attempted to use it.
A hazmat team found other potentially explosive items in a motor home parked in the backyard and disposed of them.
Information provided by the Colorado Springs Police Department
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