A 46-YEAR-OLD Santa Ana man has been arrested in connection with a fireworks explosion on July 4 in Garden Grove that injured nine people (Shutterstock).

Police arrest Santa Ana man as one suspect

A man accused of setting off a fireworks explosion in Garden Grove on Independence Day that smashed windows and injured nine people has been arrested.

According to Sgt. Mario Martinez of the GGPD, Frank Lozcano Lopez, 46, of Santa Ana has been booked into Orange County Jail for igniting a destructive device causing injury.

FRANK LOZCANO LOPEZ (GGPD photo).

The incident took place around 9:30 p.m. in the 13800 block of Rosita Place (northwest of Euclid Street and Westminster Avenue). An explosion had blown out windows from an apartment complex and several vehicles. Arriving officers found “multiple” people injured, including an 8-year-old boy who was taken to OC Global Hospital in Santa Ana with a severe eye injury and burns to his body.

Five other injured children were located and were treated by Orange County Fire Authority paramedics for non-lethal injuries.

While at OC Global, officers learned that three other persons injured in the blast had gone to the hospital on their own for medical attention. Five of nine injured people were admitted to the hospital.

During the investigation that followed, officers learned that the incident had been recorded in video on a cell phone camera. The footage showed suspects shooting mortar-style fireworks into the air that exploded in the area where some people were watching.

The follow-up investigation resulted in the arrest of Lopez as one of those setting off the explosives, and is ongoing. Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to contact Detective Steve Heine at (714) 741-5422.