Image Credit: twitter, @abc7chriscristi 
A controlled detonation of illegal fireworks led to a spectacular explosion in a Los Angeles neighborhood that left several people, including 10 police officers, injured.
The incident, caught on tape Wednesday, happened when police seized 5,000 pounds of fireworks and attempted to detonate them inside an armored bomb squad vehicle, presumably made for containing explosions.
However, the vehicle exploded shooting shrapnel throughout the area and damaging cars parked nearby.
Here are a few videos of the incredible explosion:
The moment the explosion happened. Wow.
: alyssaacasillas @FOXLA pic.twitter.com/bz0epXHUUr
— Jessica Oh (@JessicaOhTV) July 1, 2021
Neighbors described the ground shaking, with some saying they believed they were experiencing an earthquake.
“Other neighbors said they were shaken out of their beds and rattled off their couches from the impact of the explosion,” reports CBS Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Times carried a statement from LAPD Chief Michel Moore explaining there was “total catastrophic failure of that containment vehicle.”
“Clearly protocols were followed and pursued, but something happened in that containment vehicle that should have not happened and we don’t know why,” Moore stated. “We intend to find out why.”
In a statement released Wednesday night, LAPD bizarrely claimed it was “unknown at this time what caused an explosion.”
The Times explains they were attempting to retrieve a massive trove of commercial and improvised fireworks from a residence.
At the residence’s patio, officers found several thousand pounds of commercial fireworks stacked 8 to 10 feet high in boxes, and bomb squad personnel spent the day moving them to be stored at another location.
Officers also found improvised explosive devices with simple fuses — about 40 the size of Coke cans and 200 smaller objects of similar construction — and conducted X-rays to determine their contents.
The chaos sparked a frenzy of memes on social media.
Thankfully no one was seriously injured