Death Investigation Opened After Colton 8-Year-Old Urijah Roque Dies From Firework Injury

COLTON (CBSLA) — Officials confirmed Monday that an 8-year-old boy died July 4 in Colton after being struck by an illegal firework.

"Seeing fireworks in the front of us, we can see on the right side of us, left side of the house and the back," Sergio Teneorio, who lives on the street where the boy was killed, said.

The child, identified by San Bernardino County officials as Urijah Roque, was remembered over the weekend at a car wash fundraiser held at the gym where his father works.

According to the coroner, Urijah died at 11:25 p.m. at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center on the Fourth of July. Officials said family members brought him to the emergency room after he was critically injured by a malfunctioning firework that struck him in the chest.

Detectives with the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said they have launched a death investigation into illegal activity in the neighborhood that night where they said numerous illegal fireworks were discharged from a mortar-style tube during an unofficial block party.

"Someone said that a little boy was killed, but we didn't find out where it was or what area," Teneorio said.

Police said that by the time they learned of the child's death and responded to the neighborhood to investigate, there was no evidence of the illegal fireworks.