Pleasant Hill police seek suspect who left unexploded firework on school campus

PLEASANT HILL — Police here are looking for a suspect they say left an illegal firework on a middle school campus earlier this month that was later found by a 14-year-old boy who lit it and was injured.

According to a statement, police said dispatchers learned of an explosion around 3:05 p.m. April 17 on a walking path near the 2800 block of Contra Costa Boulevard.

When officers responded to the area, they arrived to find first responders treating a 14-year-old suffering from serious injury to one of his hands. Officers learned that the teen, a Pleasant Hill Middle School student, had found an unexploded illegal firework on campus, and took it to the walking path, where it went off as he held and lit it.

The teen was taken to UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Investigators who reviewed campus surveillance-camera footage saw that a male suspect brought the firework onto campus around 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 16, when no students or others were present. The footage shows the suspect walk into an outdoor hallway, put the firework on the ground and light it, where it ignited but did not explode.