Greater Minnesota

13-year-old Minnesota boy killed in fireworks accident

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MPR News
MPR

A 13-year-old boy died after being struck by a firework Friday night in Naytahwaush, Minn.

The boy was identified as Michael Turner of Naytahwaush, which is located about 80 miles east of Fargo.

The Mahnomen County Sheriff’s Office said Turner was holding a lit firework in his hands, pointing it away from himself.

“When the firework went off it shot through the bottom of the tube and hit Turner in the chest,” according to a news release from the sheriff’s office. “Another witness stated that the tube hit Turner in the chest.”

First responders arrived at the 300 block of New Circle Drive in Mahnomen County, but the individual was pronounced dead at the scene. 

The fireworks accident remains under investigation.

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, about 14,700 people nationwide were treated in hospital emergency rooms for fireworks-related injuries last year. Thirty-seven percent of those injuries were burns. In 2024, eleven people died because of fireworks.