People all across America gathered together within their communities over the past several days to celebrate the birthdate and independence of America, in what should be a time of great joy and patriotism.
One such Independence Day celebration unfortunately ended in tragedy for residents of Rock Island, IL on Tuesday, when a massive limb broke off a large oak tree on the courthouse lawn and crushed several people who were gathered underneath.
According to WLS, two people were killed and five others injured after the massive tree branch crashed down upon a group of people who were enjoying the Red, White and Boom fireworks extravaganza on the lawn of the Rock Island County Courthouse.
The branch, which reportedly measured nearly 45 feet in length, was said to have loudly snapped and dropped some 25 feet to the ground from the 100-year-old oak tree, which measured some eight feet in circumference at its base, shortly after the fireworks show began.
Daniel Mendoza, a 61-year-old from Rock Island, was pronounced dead at the scene and Lawrence Anderson, a 72-year-old from Moline, was pronounced dead after being transported to the hospital.
Five other individuals were transported to the hospital with injuries as well, including a 21-year-old pregnant woman who gave birth to a boy following the incident. Both mother and newborn child are reportedly in good condition.
“Had that limb snapped on any other day it would have fallen harmlessly and not hurt anyone,” declared an emotional Rock Island County Sheriff Gerry Bustos.
The fireworks show began around 9:30 pm and emergency crews were summoned to respond to the tragic accident between 9:40-9:45 pm, while the show was still ongoing.
“People said you could hear the cracking of the limb. People were screaming and running to get out of the way, stated Rock Island resident Torrie Minnis, who’d been watching the fireworks show from the nearby Talbot Memorial (Centennial) Bridge. “They were pulling people out of the branches. There was a guy under there and he was holding a little boy. It’s really sad.”
It has yet to be determined what caused the tree limb to break loose from the large oak tree, as there was no severe weather at the time, but Sheriff Bustos informed KWQC that an investigation into the cause of the deadly accident would be undertaken.
[show_poll poll_id=556]
Independence Day celebrations are supposed to be a time of great joy and reflection upon how our relatively young nation came into existence and reached the great heights it has achieved.
Sadly, this particular celebration was marred by a horrific tragedy that will no doubt weigh heavily on the community for years to come.
1,033 Responses
Have you ever thought about adding a little bit more than just your articles? I mean, what you say is important and everything. But think of if you added some great images or video clips to give your posts more, “pop”! Your content is excellent but with pics and clips, this website could definitely be one of the very best in its niche. Amazing blog!|
Hey, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your blog site in Ie, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, excellent blog!|
Magnificent web site. Lots of useful information here. I’m sending it to some pals ans also sharing in delicious. And certainly, thank you in your sweat!
Thanks! It is an very good web site.
Touche. Outstanding arguments. Keep up the good effort.|
I every time spent my half an hour to read this website’s content everyday along with a cup of coffee.|
Hi, I do believe this is an excellent web site. I stumbledupon it 😉 I am going to come back yet again since I book marked it. Money and freedom is the greatest way to change, may you be rich and continue to help others.
I noticed one of your pages have a 404 error.
Amazin!
Amazin!
I noticed one of your pages have a 404 error.
You are so awesome! I do not think I’ve read through something like that before. So great to find somebody with some genuine thoughts on this topic. Seriously.. many thanks for starting this up. This site is something that’s needed on the internet, someone with a little originality!
Hey! I know this is kind of off topic but I was wondering if you knew where I could find a captcha plugin for my comment form? I’m using the same blog platform as yours and I’m having difficulty finding one? Thanks a lot!|
I’m really enjoying the theme/design of your site. Do you ever run into any browser compatibility issues? A small number of my blog readers have complained about my website not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Firefox. Do you have any recommendations to help fix this problem?|
I believe this site has some real great info for everyone :D. “A friend might well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.” by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
I cling on to listening to the news lecture about receiving boundless online grant applications so I have been looking around for the finest site to get one. Could you tell me please, where could i acquire some?
naturally like your web site however you need to check the spelling on quite a few of your posts. Many of them are rife with spelling problems and I to find it very troublesome to inform the truth on the other hand I will surely come again again.|
This is the perfect blog for anyone who wishes to find out about this topic. You realize so much its almost tough to argue with you (not that I actually would want to…HaHa). You definitely put a brand new spin on a subject that’s been written about for ages. Great stuff, just excellent!
I am not sure where you’re getting your information, but great topic. I needs to spend some time learning more or understanding more. Thanks for great info I was looking for this info for my mission.
I like reading through a post that will make people think. Also, thanks for allowing me to comment!
I will right away clutch your rss feed as I can’t to find your e-mail subscription hyperlink or e-newsletter service. Do you have any? Kindly allow me recognize so that I may subscribe. Thanks.|
Hey there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this website before but after checking through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Nonetheless, I’m definitely glad I found it and I’ll be book-marking and checking back often!|
An impressive share! I have just forwarded this onto a colleague who was doing a little research on this. And he in fact ordered me breakfast due to the fact that I found it for him… lol. So allow me to reword this…. Thank YOU for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending the time to talk about this issue here on your web site.
I do not even know how I ended up here, but I thought this put up was good. I do not know who you might be but certainly you’re going to a well-known blogger should you are not already. Cheers!|
Good article. I will be facing some of these issues as well..
Asking questions are actually good thing if you are not understanding anything totally, but this article gives good understanding even.|
Thanks – Enjoyed this post, can I set it up so I receive an email sent to me whenever you publish a new post?
I regard something truly interesting about your weblog so I saved to fav.
Your style is really unique compared to other people I have read stuff from. I appreciate you for posting when you have the opportunity, Guess I’ll just bookmark this blog.
A motivating discussion is worth comment. I believe that you ought to write more on this topic, it may not be a taboo matter but generally people do not speak about such subjects. To the next! Many thanks!!
Way cool! Some extremely valid points! I appreciate you writing this write-up and the rest of the site is really good.|
Great blog here! Additionally your web site loads up very fast! What host are you using? Can I get your affiliate hyperlink on your host? I want my web site loaded up as fast as yours lol|
My spouse and i got really relieved John could deal with his studies from the precious recommendations he gained from your very own weblog. It’s not at all simplistic just to happen to be offering strategies a number of people may have been making money from. So we fully understand we have got the blog owner to be grateful to for that. The entire explanations you’ve made, the straightforward blog menu, the relationships you can give support to create – it is all powerful, and it’s helping our son in addition to our family know that the subject is fun, which is certainly very important. Thank you for the whole lot!
Way cool! Some extremely valid points! I appreciate you writing this post plus the rest of the site is very good.
Hey there! I simply would like to offer you a big thumbs up for the excellent information you’ve got right here on this post. I’ll be coming back to your website for more soon.|
Hi there! This article couldn’t be written any better! Looking at this post reminds me of my previous roommate! He continually kept talking about this. I most certainly will forward this article to him. Fairly certain he’s going to have a very good read. Thank you for sharing!|
My programmer is trying to persuade me to move to .net from PHP. I have always disliked the idea because of the expenses. But he’s tryiong none the less. I’ve been using WordPress on a variety of websites for about a year and am nervous about switching to another platform. I have heard great things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can import all my wordpress posts into it? Any kind of help would be greatly appreciated!
Pretty nice post. I simply stumbled upon your blog and wished to mention that I have really loved browsing your weblog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing in your rss feed and I’m hoping you write again soon!|
That is a very good tip particularly to those new to the blogosphere. Brief but very precise info… Thanks for sharing this one. A must read post!
Pretty! This has been an incredibly wonderful article. Thank you for providing these details.