Nine people were taken to area hospitals last night with injuries that were not life-threatening after fireworks landed in the middle of a crowd at a rescheduled Fourth of July celebration at Catonsville High School, police and fire officials said.
Firefighter Tim Robinson said witnesses described a shell landing amid a crowd of spectators about 10 p.m., just before the display's grand finale.
"The way people were saying it, it came right down and exploded and was shooting fire 40, 50 feet in the air," he said.
Baltimore County police Cpl. Ronald Brooks said it was unclear whether the fireworks were fired by mistake from the public display or were set off by someone in the crowd. Police did not make any arrests, Brooks said.
"Apparently, it was either an accident from the display or something thrown" by a spectator, he said.
Police cordoned off the area late last night to collect fireworks fragments to submit to the county crime laboratory. The county's bomb squad was also called to the scene.
The popular annual display, which had been rescheduled because of Wednesday's rain, was stopped after the injuries occurred, Brooks said.
Five people were taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Burn Center with what appeared to be first- and second-degree burns, Robinson said.
A nursing supervisor at the burn center said the victims included adults and children, and that none appeared to be in critical condition.
Two people were taken with undisclosed injuries to Johns Hopkins Adult Trauma Unit, and two people were taken with undisclosed injuries to St. Agnes HealthCare, Robinson said.
And a woman who went into labor shortly after the incident was also taken to St. Agnes, he said.
"It was probably the excitement [that induced the labor]," Robinson said. "She was right there when it came down."
