LOS ANGELES — An investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, or ATF, determined the Los Angeles Police Department seriously miscalculated the amount of illegal fireworks their containment vessel could handle when they tried to detonate fireworks in a South LA neighborhood in June.

Residents who live on East 27th Street expressed mixed emotions about the report even as shattered glass and cones continue to block the street three and a half months after the detonation gone wrong rocked the neighborhood.

Cendedo Juarez, 72, said he stops home every day to pick up clothes and documents, but he will never be able to live in the neighborhood again.

“I sat this way; I watched the TV, boom!” Juarez explained in broken English what happened that night of the explosion.

Juarez and five family members inside the house were rushed to the hospital. He and his sister were wheeled away by firefighters with blood pouring down their faces.

The cuts have healed and Juarez’s sister is able to hear again after her hearing aid that was blown out in the blast was replaced, but signs of destruction are all over.

The family’s home structure was compromised and will need to be demolished. The City has placed them in a hotel downtown until further notice, but Juarez said he has no idea what tomorrow will bring.

It was their home and without it, they have nowhere else to live. He is one of nearly 200 residents who have filed claims for property damage and injury from the blast to the City of Los Angeles.

In a virtual townhall meeting Tuesday evening, LAPD Chief Michel Moore said the report by the ATF found that bomb squad officers exceeded the capacity of explosives their specialized truck could handle. He also said they would no longer be using the truck in residential neighborhoods.

“Sixteen tons of fireworks. The possibility of taking out that entire neighborhood was real. The heat, the summer day, the challenges these officers had, the dangers that were proposed to the 27th street. It may sound like hyperbole but it is true, these were real," Chief Moore said.

The Chief has decided not to release the names of the officers involved, but said they have been removed from their post and pledged to continue working with the city and numerous organizations to offer whatever the residents need to rebuild. 

He asked the community to find it in their hearts to forgive them.

Cendedo said he already has.

As he read the findings of the ATF investigation, the pictures of the blast from his front door bring him back to that harrowing night. Yet, he still calls it an accident, letting his lawyer figure out the rest.

"It’s okay," he said as he closed the wood on his boarded up home of 20 years with nearly nothing, but memories, to show for it.

Officers confiscated illegal fireworks from Arturo Ceja III, who plead guilty to a federal charge of transporting explosives without a license.

The City’s Emergency Management Department said affected residents have until the end of December to file their claims. Staff have also teamed with All Peoples Community Center to provide case-by-case management for affected residents.

For more information, visit emergency.lacity.org or call (213) 978-7050.