The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department described Tuesday’s deadly explosion at a Bell Gardens apartment complex as a “tragic accident” caused by homemade explosives, possibly fireworks.
Investigators believe one of the half-brothers — Carlos Hernandez, 13 and Christopher Benitez, 23 — mixed energetic powders and may have pressurized the mixture, sparking the blast. Lt. Michael Modica said an example of energetic powders is gunpowder.
“We believe they were responsible for the explosion,” Modica said. “At this point, we believe it was a tragic accident.”
Detectives found pieces of plastic pipes at the scene along with energetic powders, which have been sent to their lab for testing…