What's new
By:
Filters

LA bomb squad truck blew up

so somebody poured some WWII era tank armor into a sphere and said "15 lbs is what it will handle" and here we are?
 

Man Arrested on Charge of Illegally Transporting Fireworks, Including Homemade Devices that Caused Huge Explosion in South L.A.​

LOS ANGELES – A South Los Angeles man was arrested this afternoon on federal charges of illegally transporting tons of explosives he purchased in Nevada – including dangerous homemade devices that were detonated by police, leading to a massive explosion that destroyed a specially designed containment vehicle and injured 17 people.

Arturo Ceja III, was arrested by ATF special agents pursuant to a criminal complaint filed late Friday that charges him with transporting explosives without a license. Ceja will remain in custody until an initial appearance expected on July 6 in United States District Court in Los Angeles.

The complaint alleges that Ceja made several trips to Nevada in late June to purchase various types of explosives – including aerial displays and large homemade fireworks containing explosive materials – that he transported to his residence in rental vans. Most of the explosives were purchased at Area 51, a fireworks dealer in Pahrump, Nevada. The complaint notes that fireworks in California can be sold for as much as four times what purchasers pay for the fireworks in Nevada.

Ceja told investigators that he purchased the homemade explosives – constructed of cardboard paper, hobby fuse and packed with explosive flash powder – from an individual selling the devices out of the trunk of a Honda in the Area 51 parking lot, according to the complaint.

“Ceja did not possess an ATF explosives license or permit of any kind that would authorize him to transport either aerial display fireworks or homemade fireworks made with explosive materials, including but not limited to flash powder,” according to the complaint affidavit written by a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

On Wednesday, after receiving a tip that fireworks were being stored in Ceja’s backyard, Los Angeles Police officers responded to his residence on East 27thStreet. At the house, officers found over 500 boxes of commercial grade fireworks in large cardboard boxes. The initial investigation by local authorities estimated that approximately 5,000 pounds of fireworks were found; however, today the ATF determined that Ceja was storing approximately 32,000 pounds of fireworks in his backyard.

“[T]he fireworks were stored outside and in an unsafe manner, namely under unsecured tents and next to cooking grills,” the complaint alleges. “None of the commercial fireworks or homemade fireworks, which contained explosive materials, were stored in an approved magazine.”

In addition to the commercial fireworks, the initial search of Ceja’s residence led to the discovery of over 140 other homemade fireworks (typically referred to M devices of varying sizes), as well as explosives-making components, including hobby fuse that matched the fuse on a homemade mortar shell wrapped in tin foil that was discovered inside the residence, according to the affidavit.

While the fireworks were being removed from Ceja’s residence, the LAPD Bomb Squad determined that some of the homemade fireworks containing explosive materials were not safe to transport due to risk of detonation in a densely populated area and therefore would be destroyed on scene using a total containment vessel (TCV), according to the affidavit. During the destruction of the devices, the entire TCV exploded, causing a massive blast radius, damaging homes in the neighborhood and injuring a total of 17 law enforcement personnel and civilians.

A criminal complaint contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The charge of transporting explosives without a license carries a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the United States Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General; and the Los Angeles Police Department are investigating this matter.

Assistant United States Attorneys Amanda M. Bettinelli and Erik M. Silber of the Environmental and Community Safety Crimes Section are prosecuting this case.

Thom Mrozek Director of Media Relations [email protected] (213) 894-6947
Click to expand...
www.justice.gov

Man Arrested on Charge of Illegally Transporting Fireworks, Including Homemade Devices that Caused Huge Explosion in South L.A.

www.justice.gov www.justice.gov
 
First thing came to my mind. Was they going to denote as much as 32,000 lbs through that TCV?

And then why he had that much of firework because he certainly can’t sell that much of firework in 2-3 days or set them all off by himself for the 4th
 
TrailTamer said:
First thing came to my mind. Was they going to denote as much as 32,000 lbs through that TCV?

And then why he had that much of firework because he certainly can’t sell that much of firework in 2-3 days or set them all off by himself for the 4th
Click to expand...
I believe all the commercial ones were shipped off via truck and the only ones that they were detonating were the homemade ones that they weren't sure if they were stable enough to transport.

Aaron Z
 
What I find interesting that he’s arrested for transporting fireworks without atf license. Days after police’s search and mishandle of fireworks.

What kind of law or something BS that gave authorities the act to confiscate his fireworks?
 
I'm trying to figure out how they are getting the weights. Normally you go by explosive weight, not the firework weight. Some of the bigger stuff is 500 grams, or a little over a lb. But that comes in a unit that weights 10+lbs mostly cardboard.
Maybe 5k worth of powder and 32k worth of gross weight?
 
kf4zht said:
I'm trying to figure out how they are getting the weights. Normally you go by explosive weight, not the firework weight. Some of the bigger stuff is 500 grams, or a little over a lb. But that comes in a unit that weights 10+lbs mostly cardboard.
Maybe 5k worth of powder and 32k worth of gross weight?
Click to expand...
Kinda like when the do pot raids and weight the whole plant, roots, leaf's, stalk's, dirt and all, not just the bud.
 
aczlan said:
I believe all the commercial ones were shipped off via truck and the only ones that they were detonating were the homemade ones that they weren't sure if they were stable enough to transport.

Aaron Z
Click to expand...
I imagine it went something along the lines of;
Hey Joe, you know we should make multiple trips to take this shit to the disposal range...
Fuck that Johnny, I don't want to sit in that truck all day going back and forth, I want to hit up the dunkin this afternoon...
Yeah... alright I suppose. Toss me a few more of those detonators, lets get this over and done with...
 
“[T]he fireworks were stored outside and in an unsafe manner, namely under unsecured tents and next to cooking grills,” the complaint alleges. “None of the commercial fireworks or homemade fireworks, which contained explosive materials, were stored in an approved magazine.”

Yet they still hadn't managed to blow the neighborhood to smithereens. :lmao:

"While the fireworks were being removed from Ceja’s residence, the LAPD Bomb Squad determined that some of the homemade fireworks containing explosive materials were not safe to transport due to risk of detonation in a densely populated area and therefore would be destroyed on scene using a total containment vessel (TCV), according to the affidavit. During the destruction of the devices, the entire TCV exploded, causing a massive blast radius, damaging homes in the neighborhood and injuring a total of 17 law enforcement personnel and civilians."

:homer:
 
My love of things that go boom aside, and the stupidity of the cops blowing up the truck aside, there are regulations on the storage and transport of fireworks for a reason. Regulations written in blood and destroyed property. Just like there are going to be additional training and procedures on how to deal with this situation moving forward throughout the country based on this incident. Stupid people make it very hard to maintain a free country.

As far as the guy stockpiling and selling fireworks in California, well you play stupid games...

My Grandpa was telling me about a neighbor of his who had his garage set up like a store with all of the shit on shelves and priced posted and the cops walked in. This was in the 70s I think, the neighbor was too fat to walk and instead of sending him to jail they fined him something like $40,000.
 
mdmike said:
“[T]he fireworks were stored outside and in an unsafe manner, namely under unsecured tents and next to cooking grills,” the complaint alleges. “None of the commercial fireworks or homemade fireworks, which contained explosive materials, were stored in an approved magazine.”

Yet they still hadn't managed to blow the neighborhood to smithereens. :lmao:

"While the fireworks were being removed from Ceja’s residence, the LAPD Bomb Squad determined that some of the homemade fireworks containing explosive materials were not safe to transport due to risk of detonation in a densely populated area and therefore would be destroyed on scene using a total containment vessel (TCV), according to the affidavit. During the destruction of the devices, the entire TCV exploded, causing a massive blast radius, damaging homes in the neighborhood and injuring a total of 17 law enforcement personnel and civilians."

:homer:
Click to expand...


Yet they came all the way from Nevada without exploding until the cops got ahold of them. Seems like the cops were the problem here. :laughing:
 
When you want the problem to go from bad to worse just get the cops involved. The whole mentality of 'when all you have is a hammer every thing looks like a nail' approach.
 
rockmup said:
Yet they came all the way from Nevada without exploding until the cops got ahold of them. Seems like the cops were the problem here. :laughing:
Click to expand...
I'm curious what exactly was that they blew up, it sounds like the commercial fireworks were all trucked out and then this was some kind of homemade firework or other explosive device?
Did the guy assemble it on site or did he buy it assembled elsewhere? If he assembled it on site with something that is unstable I could see them not wanting to transport it, if he bought it assembled elsewhere and it didn't have anything unstable in it I'm not sure why they wouldn't transport it.
Or perhaps it was just that they didn't know for sure what was in it and they wanted to use their cool toy, but they were unfamiliar with the limitations of their toy for unknown explosives.

Aaron Z
 
aczlan said:
I'm curious what exactly was that they blew up, it sounds like the commercial fireworks were all trucked out and then this was some kind of homemade firework or other explosive device?
Did the guy assemble it on site or did he buy it assembled elsewhere? If he assembled it on site with something that is unstable I could see them not wanting to transport it, if he bought it assembled elsewhere and it didn't have anything unstable in it I'm not sure why they wouldn't transport it.
Or perhaps it was just that they didn't know for sure what was in it and they wanted to use their cool toy, but they were unfamiliar with the limitations of their toy for unknown explosives.

Aaron Z
Click to expand...


The post above said he bought them out of the trunk of a car in the parking lot. Homemade mortars are lots of fun but it doesn't take much to be way wrong. Theres no telling what was in them, sounds like the cops made the wrong assumptions. :laughing:
 
aczlan said:
I'm curious what exactly was that they blew up, it sounds like the commercial fireworks were all trucked out and then this was some kind of homemade firework or other explosive device?
Did the guy assemble it on site or did he buy it assembled elsewhere? If he assembled it on site with something that is unstable I could see them not wanting to transport it, if he bought it assembled elsewhere and it didn't have anything unstable in it I'm not sure why they wouldn't transport it.
Or perhaps it was just that they didn't know for sure what was in it and they wanted to use their cool toy, but they were unfamiliar with the limitations of their toy for unknown explosives.

Aaron Z
Click to expand...

Flash. It's what blockbusters, m80's, cherrybombs etc are filled with. All have been banned nationwide for some time. The good stuff you needed a connection to find.
 
rockmup said:
The post above said he bought them out of the trunk of a car in the parking lot. Homemade mortars are lots of fun but it doesn't take much to be way wrong. Theres no telling what was in them, sounds like the cops made the wrong assumptions. :laughing:
Click to expand...
And how would that be a suprise
 
aczlan said:
I'm curious what exactly was that they blew up, it sounds like the commercial fireworks were all trucked out and then this was some kind of homemade firework or other explosive device?
Did the guy assemble it on site or did he buy it assembled elsewhere? If he assembled it on site with something that is unstable I could see them not wanting to transport it, if he bought it assembled elsewhere and it didn't have anything unstable in it I'm not sure why they wouldn't transport it.
Or perhaps it was just that they didn't know for sure what was in it and they wanted to use their cool toy, but they were unfamiliar with the limitations of their toy for unknown explosives.

Aaron Z
Click to expand...

Flash powder. The stuff is pretty crazy
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Back Refresh