Two Missouri Men Charged in Fatal Fireworks Explosion

[47of74]

I hope these two clowns go away for a while

Quote

Two men were charged with murder in a house explosion near St. Louis that authorities say killed four people who were assembling fireworks in a garage.

St. Louis County prosecutors say 37-year-old Terrell Cooks and 43-year-old Seneca Mahan made fireworks and directed younger people on how to load the canisters and attach a fuse for lighting. They would then sell the fireworks to others. Neither Cooks nor Mahan had a license to make or sell fireworks.

Cooks and Mahan are each with three counts of second-degree murder and several other charges in Friday's explosion near the town of Black Jack. They were charged before a fourth victim died Saturday.

The victims in the powerful blast that shook other homes and blew out neighbors' windows were identified as Travell Eason, 16; Christopher Jones, 17; Damario Cooks, 18; and William Jones, 21.

When my sister and brother in law lived in Missouri my fur nephew Marvel hated July 4 with a passion cause all the neighbors made the place sound like a fucking war zone.  Least that sounds like that won't be the place up here in Minnesota.

Edited June 20, 2022 by 47of74

[Howl]

This is so sad!  All who died were just young kids trying to make some money.  

Back when, I spent a fair amount of time in Mexico.  Mexicans love loud fireworks - "cohetes"

We bought some "bottle rockets" to try.  The basic components were a stick about 3 feet long with a payload about the size of a stick of dynamite attached.   Put the 3-foot-long stick in the ground, light the fuse, it launches pretty high into the sky and explodes with a massive, earsplitting reverberating BOOM!  What could possibly go wrong?

Subsequently, we were in a town and got a glimpse of how these are made when we passed the open doors of a cohete factory, basically 15 or so guys sitting on chairs in a circle, assembling them, and you just hope no one walks in with a lit cigarette.  I'm guessing gunpowder wrapped up in newspaper were the primary elements. 

This happened at a Mexico City fireworks market 2016:  Death toll at 35 in Mexico fireworks explosion   Number could increase as search with cadaver dogs continue

 

[47of74]

1 hour ago, Howl said:

This is so sad!  All who died were just young kids trying to make some money.  

Back when, I spent a fair amount of time in Mexico.  Mexicans love loud fireworks - "cohetes"

We bought some "bottle rockets" to try.  The basic components were a stick about 3 feet long with a payload about the size of a stick of dynamite attached.   Put the 3-foot-long stick in the ground, light the fuse, it launches pretty high into the sky and explodes with a massive, earsplitting reverberating BOOM!  What could possibly go wrong?

Subsequently, we were in a town and got a glimpse of how these are made when we passed the open doors of a cohete factory, basically 15 or so guys sitting on chairs in a circle, assembling them, and you just hope no one walks in with a lit cigarette.  I'm guessing gunpowder wrapped up in newspaper were the primary elements. 

This happened at a Mexico City fireworks market 2016:  Death toll at 35 in Mexico fireworks explosion   Number could increase as search with cadaver dogs continue

 

There’s a fireworks store in St. Francisville, Missouri called Shelton Fireworks. It’s just a few hundred feet from the Iowa border. 

Right over the entrances there are large no smoking signs. 

Sarcastic me is like gee I wonder why….

[Howl]

That's an immense building and those are very big signs! 

It's scary how any smokers are on automatic pilot much of the time, not even aware when they light up. 

[47of74]

1 hour ago, Howl said:

That's an immense building and those are very big signs! 

It's scary how any smokers are on automatic pilot much of the time, not even aware when they light up. 

It's a pretty good sized building but the top half of the taller walls has nothing behind it - just some beams to hold up the walls.  The roof is at the same height throughout the building.  Coming back from Missouri one time I did stop there to use the can and got a couple bottle rockets.  At the time in Missouri residents could only buy fireworks around the 4th, otherwise the stores were pretty much limited to out of state residents who were going to be leaving Missouri within the next few hours.  

Yeah someone lit up in that building or another fireworks store they could put the whole damn thing in orbit. 

[hoipolloi]

On 6/20/2022 at 11:08 AM, 47of74 said:

Right over the entrances there are large no smoking signs. 

I"m surprised that the good citizens of Missouri tolerate such an infringement of their FREE-DUMBS. /sarcasm/

More seriously, cigarettes, pipes, and cigars aren't the only things that could ignite combustible material or fumes. 

 

Edited June 21, 2022 by hoipolloi