1 Critically Hurt, 2 Others Injured in Cannon Firing

A New Year’s Eve celebration turned explosive Tuesday when an antique cannon blew up in a back yard, critically injuring a 30-year-old man and sending an 8-year-old boy and the man’s fiance to area hospitals.

Fountain Valley Fire Battalion Chief Bob McVey said the cannon was taken into a back yard near the pool, filled with gunpowder, stuffed with toilet paper and fired. But when fired a second time, the cannon exploded, sending pieces of shrapnel through the back yard and into the back of the house in the 9000 block of Jasmine Avenue.

McVey said all of the windows in the rear of the house blew out in the blast, which prompted calls to fire officials at 10:27 p.m. .

Officials described the cannon as about 3 feet long with a 3-inch barrel.

“In one instant, the explosion blew a piece of shrapnel through the back of the house, which would be the stucco, into the dry wall,” McVey said. “It went into the kitchen, into a cabinet door and made a big dent in the side of the refrigerator.”

The fire official said the most critically injured victim, the 30-year-old man, lost his right leg and suffered a fractured left femur, an eviscerated abdomen and an open chest wound. The man was not immediately identified.

A Life Flight helicopter was summoned to transport the man to UCI Medical Center, where he was said to be in critical condition. The copter landed a few yards away, in Vista View Park.

The 8-year old, McVey said, was struck by shrapnel in his right hip. The third victim, a 30-year-old woman, suffered minor cuts from flying debris.

Fountain Valley Police Sgt. Larry Griswold said a fourth participant, who lived in the residence, was not injured.

Officials said the cannon probably violated city codes.

“You cannot blow off things like that,” said Griswold.

Neighborhood resident Mark Peters, 16, said he and his brother and friends were playing Nintendo in his house a block away when they heard the explosion.

“We felt the whole house shake,” he said.

Said a companion, 16-year-old Matt Brunsmann: “I just heard a boom and looked at the clock and I said ‘it’s not that time yet.’ ”