What appeared to be a professional fireworks display that lit up Little Tokyo Sunday night shocked many residents in downtown Los Angeles, and now police are searching for the people who launched the illegal pyrotechnics.
Authorities with the Los Angeles Police Department told KTLA that an estimated 100 rounds of illegal fireworks were set off not far from Little Tokyo, but so far no one is sure who is responsible for the massive display.
“It kept going off for a long time. It woke up my roommates,” Little Tokyo resident Andrew Terveer told KTLA’s Carlos Saucedo.
The mysterious barrage, which was captured on video, lasted about 30 minutes, according to neighbors who not only heard them but felt the explosions too.
“We would hear the window shake every time there was a bang, we would hear the windows rattle,” John Zambrana said.
While the sound of illegal fireworks is pretty common in downtown L.A., Sunday’s unannounced show was more like the grand finale.
“We had all of our doors and windows closed, but it was pretty loud,” Cynthia Nyeh recalled.
Nyeh said that the explosions didn’t really bother her dog, Hopper, all that much.
“I really thought that it was a mistake or an accident or maybe a fireworks warehouse, something happened there,” she said. “It was weird.”
The pyrotechnics were set off in a parking lot adjacent to the Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, where spent fireworks boxes were scattered about.
LAPD is investigating the incident, saying the fireworks show was no accident and that it was definitely planned.
“I don’t know,” Terveer said. “I was going to say kids, but it was way too much money for them to be kids. I don’t know who’s behind this mischief.”
Though no one was injured in the incident, it is illegal to set off fireworks in L.A. Anyone with information about the illegal fireworks show is urged to contact the LAPD.