Suburban Chicago Fireworks Explosion Kills Man
JOHNSBURG, Ill. (AP) ― Authorities say a 31-year-old man has died after an explosion at a personal New Year's Eve fireworks display in the far northwestern Chicago suburb of Johnsburg.
Johnsburg police chief Keith Von Allmen says emergency responders arrived minutes after midnight on New Year's Day and pronounced Robert Freund dead. Freund was using mortar fireworks that Von Allmen says are lit by a fuse.
Von Allmen says a witness heard the explosion and saw Freund laying the front yard. He says no one saw the actual explosion.
McHenry County deputy coroner Robert Locke says the blast caused substantial head and chest trauma. The Cook County Bomb Squad is investigating the incident.
Johnsburg is about 50 miles northwest of downtown Chicago.
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