Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman Wednesday implored residents to leave fireworks displays to professionals and to refrain from shooting off guns to celebrate the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.
At a news conference in Leslie N. Shaw Park, not far from the scene of an illegal fireworks tragedy last month, Hochman was joined by officials from the Los Angeles city and county fire departments and an assistant chief from the Los Angeles Police Department in reminding the public that all fireworks are illegal in the county, and prosecutions will result for anyone caught making, selling, buying or setting off illegal pyrotechnics.
Hochman said July 4 was one of his favorite times of year as a child specifically because of the thrill of seeing and hearing fireworks displays.
“But here’s the problem,” he said. “People are going beyond just enjoying legitimately lit fireworks in public displays. They are going ahead and engaging in illegal fireworks and explosives at a level in this county that is absolutely both unfathomable and incredibly dangerous.”
Hochman said Wednesday’s news conference was taking place in Jefferson Park because it was close to where fireworks blew up in an auxiliary dwelling unit and killed 26-year-old Javier Acosta in May.
He also pointed to a January tragedy that took the lives of two brothers, one 24 and the other 13, when fireworks the older brother was allegedly assembling detonated.
His final example of what could go wrong involved an explosion of illegal commercial grade fireworks in Pacoima in July, where a man was killed, a woman severely injured and dozens of people were displaced from their homes for an extended period.
All of the deaths and injuries were preventable, Hochman and other officials said.
Hochman also said that charges were filed on Tuesday against four people who now face up to 17 years behind bars after 8,500 pounds of fireworks — enough to blow up a neighborhood or office building — were seized from a facility in East Los Angeles.
Other seizures included 37,000 pounds found at a residence in May 2025 and 150,000 pounds in June 2024 in Gardena.
“We want to send a message to people who are making this stuff, buying this stuff and selling this stuff,” Hochman said. “We have a cell door with your name on it.”
Deputy Chief Stephen Gutierrez of the Los Angeles Fire Department said the department responded to two of the incidents detailed by Hochman, calling them some of “the most devastating fireworks explosions in recent memory.”
Deputy Chief Jon O’Brien of the Los Angeles County Fire Department said that in 2025, county firefighters seized 285 tons of illegal fireworks, roughly accounting for half of all fireworks seized in California last year.
He also said illegal fireworks were blamed for starting 87 fires and causing millions of dollars in damage.
As for life-changing injuries, he said that in 2025, 15 people were hurt by fireworks with 10 suffering facial trauma and a 17-year-old losing vision in both eyes.
Assistant Chief Emada Tingirides of the Los Angeles Police Department said parents should keep tabs on their kids and talk to them about the risks.
“We’re sending a message that collectively, we want safety and we want accountability,” she said. “These tragedies are preventable and we refuse to accept them as inevitable.”
Tingirides also added celebratory gunfire to the list of things that could turn the holiday tragic.
“Someone’s celebration should never become someone else’s tragedy,” she said.