Neighbor Dan Fitzgerald told WOOD TV that 46-year-old Anthony Herman had been firing a homemade cannon in their lake community throughout Independence Day weekend:
Neighbors said Herman had been firing from steel cannons about a foot tall.
“I kept hearing the cannon go off,” neighbor Larry Jachim said. “‘Fire in the hole!’ to alert everybody because it shakes the windows, and I’m about five houses down.”
“They were just blowing the cannon off all through the day, and I don’t know if he packed it too full or something,” Fitzgerald said.
According to neighbors in report below, large pieces of shrapnel were sent flying into neighboring yards as far as 150 yards away.
Late on the 4th of July, Herman lit the homemade cannon for the last time:
Police identified the victim as Anthony Herman, 46. They said he was lighting a homemade cannon about 10:45 p.m. when it exploded. They believe a piece of metal shrapnel hit him in the chest. A neighbor said it appeared he had moved away from the cannon after lighting it.
See more in this WoodTV report: