Aftermath of “CoMo Fireworks War”

UPDATE 6:34 p.m.: The Boone County Sheriff’s Department said it will be the last fireworks war.

Sheriff Dwayne Carey told ABC 17 that some of his deputies were hit last night and injured.

Residents told us, last night, was the worst year they’ve seen.

Neighbor Leslie Wyatt said, “this is the worst year we’ve ever had out here, we can’t have fun because of this nonsense.”

The Sheriff said it was a dangerous scene and he is going to make sure it does not happen again.

“We have 364 days to address this problem and if I have to take all 150 members of this department, we’ll arrest everyone that’s involved next year,” said Sheriff Carey.

He told us that he has already called the commissioners office and the state to put in place an ordinance, which says you can’t shoot a firework at another person.

“And if you do shoot a firework at another person, you are subject to arrest,” said Carey.

He also said he called upon the Columbia Police Department for help, but instead of assisting them in the chaos, they stayed staged outside.

ORIGINAL: Over one hundred people participated in the “CoMo Fireworks War” on Demaret Drive but one of the event coordinators expects only twenty people to help clean up.

“If you’re going to war, and this is for everybody different cities, states, always clean up,” coordinator Ahmonta Harris said. “It’s not the neighborhoods fault to clean up.”

Residents of Demaret Drive took to the streets and swept up leftover fireworks. One resident said last night she was hit by a firework from inside her home.

“I was even standing behind the door and got a small burn mark on my hand because something came into the hallway,” Tina Palmer said.

Palmer said her grandkids did play with fireworks on the Fourth of July so she would help clean up some of the debris.

Some neighbors did participate in the event. However, not everyone approved of the “Fireworks War” especially near homes.

Palmer said she wished the participants were farther from the houses, and away from “innocent people.”

Harris said the event was shut down when it became too rowdy.

“Took us about ten minutes to shut it down,” Harris said. “My side of the team left and the other side of the team left.”

The war lasted about thirty minutes but some residents in the neighborhood continued to participate after it was officially over, Harris said.