18-year-old in Brooklyn Park dies after fireworks explode in his face
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. -- A man is dead after a firework exploded in his face early Monday morning in Brooklyn Park.
Police responded to a park on the 9800 block of Fallgold Parkway North at around 1:30 a.m. to find an 18-year-old man with severe injuries to his hands and face.
They said he was holding a firework when it exploded in his face.
Police also said a friend tried to perform CPR on the man.
The man was later taken to the hospital where died from his injuries.
Neighbors said they hear fireworks going off often from the park well into the night and into the early morning hours, especially around the Fourth of July holiday.
Joe Tanner, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years, said they've had many close calls in this park.
"We've had fires go off because of the different rockets they shoot in the air," he said. "You've got them landing on your roof [and] in your grass [and] especially the last couple of years with it being so dry you've had grass fires that we've had to put out. The neighborhood dads kind of man their garden hoses as if they're fire hoses. The outhouse -- it's a big plastic outhouse that was set on fire one year."
Police say the mortar-type firework the man was holding is illegal in Minnesota.