A 19-year-old Fort Worth man died Thursday night in a fireworks accident, fire officials said.
Juma Maneno was pronounced dead at John Peter Smith Hospital, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner.
The accident happened about 10 p.m. at an apartment complex in the 4800 block of Virgil Street.
Maneno was burned and in full cardiac arrest when firefighters arrived, said Mike Drivdahl, a Fort Worth Fire Department spokesman.
He received extensive injuries to his upper body, Drivdahl said.
Neighbors said hundreds of people had gathered outside the apartment complex and the crowd got out of control.
"The fireworks, they're supposed to go up in the air," said neighbor Angela Tolbert. "Instead of up in the air, they were shooting them into a crowd of people."
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At the same apartment complex about the same time, one-year-old Badiso Sayidbaker was burned on her leg when fireworks came crashing through her living room window.
In yet another accident, a teenager's hand was seriously injured on the city’s south side.
The Fort Worth Fire Department said they responded to nearly 500 emergency calls on July 4 and nearly 2,000 calls were received at a fireworks hotline.
So many calls came in, firefighters had to prioritize which calls to respond to, Drivdahl said.
