A nineteen-year-old who was a quarter mile away from a violent explosion was struck and killed by a projectile that was launched during the explosion.
The Macomb County Medical Examiner identified the victim as Turner Lee Salter.
On Monday this week, there was a fiery explosion at a vape distributing company in Clinton Township, Michigan, caused by butane canisters. In addition to a half semi-load of butane containers, the facility also stored pallets of nitrous, lighter fluid, and over 100,000 vapes with lithium batteries.
The explosion is said to have sent debris as far as two miles away from the facility.
Once called to the scene, firefighters were unable to reach the fire immediately due to the explosions. The Clinton Township police released a statement during the incident on Monday night.
“We can not stress enough the danger that is happening right now. Please, please, please stay inside and out of the vicinity. Debris is being projected into the air and coming down as far as a mile away from the explosion.”
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Officials are now examining the quantities of canisters present to determine whether the business was violating any regulations regarding the storage of the canisters. The last inspection of the business was in 2022, when no canisters were present. The business owners have reportedly been very cooperative and forthright with the investigation.
Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel said at a news conference, “Our thoughts and prayers and sadness to the family, friends and loved ones and the community of the loss of the life of the 19-year-old out in the street that got hit by one of those pieces of shrapnel.”
“Just walking the streets and getting hit by something like that, completely unexpected,” Hackel said. “And I couldn’t think of anything sadder as an outcome for this particular situation.”
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