The explosion that claimed the life of a Holland woman and hospitalized nine others in west Michigan Monday night was not caused by a consumer-grade firework, police said Wednesday.
The explosion took place late Monday night in Park Township, a community of about 19,000 residents near Holland along the shore of Lake Michigan. In a news release, the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office identified the victim as 41-year-old Jana Daniels, from Holland. Police initially said the victim was 43 years old.
An autopsy performed Wednesday at Holland Hospital determined Daniels’ cause of death to be cardiac laceration due to shrapnel injury. Daniels’ death was ruled an accident, according to police.
The explosion happened at a private gathering celebrating the Fourth of July at a home in the 1700 block of Main Street in Park Township, which is a residential area. At least five nearby vehicles and three neighboring homes were also damaged by the blast, with some shrapnel fragments breaking windows and passing through walls of nearby homes, police said.
Police didn’t specify what the device was — but did say that metal fragments and other bits of shrapnel were dispersed in the explosion.
Of the nine other people injured in the explosion, five have been released from area hospitals. The other four individuals remain hospitalized but are expected to survive. Police say the wounds were mainly to the extremities and included mostly soft tissue injuries.
The names of the others injured in the explosion have not been disclosed by police.
The Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office says the incident, particularly what caused the explosion, remains under investigation. According to the news release, the device which exploded was not a consumer-grade firework and is believed to have been brought by an individual attending the holiday gathering. Police believe the device’s detonation was accidental.
Anyone with more information on the incident is encouraged to contact the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office or Silent Observer at 1-877-88-SILENT (745368) or mosotips.com.