Leader Staff
A 4-year-old girl was killed late Monday by an explosion of homemade fireworks in the city of Clintonville, according to police.
Alyssa Chmielewski died after sustaining severe injuries to the neck and upper thoracic area. An autopsy was being performed Tuesday afternoon.
Police were called to reports of an explosion around 10:30 p.m. At the same time, an ambulance was called to a residence on Hughes Street in the area of the reports.
Police arrived at the scene of the ambulance call and learned that a 4-year-old girl had been injured by the the explosion.
According to police, the victim’s father, a 42-year-old Clintonville man, had configured an array of sparkler type fireworks in a metal tube.
After lighting the configuration, it exploded, injuring the girl and causing her death.
Clintonville Police Chief James Beggs said a determination would be made whether charges should be filed in the case once the autopsy results were in and all other evidence and statements had been gathered.
Beggs said the department has been in contact with the district attorney regarding the incident.
Information regarding so-called sparkler bombs of the type the Clintonville man was apparently trying to create can be found on the internet and in various YouTube videos, all of which warn of the dangers of packing multiple sparklers into a single device.