Failure to Launch: 'Extensive' Fireworks Display Fizzles When Cops Arrest North Jersey Man

A Sparta Township man’s plans to light up the night sky on Independence Day resulted in more verbal fireworks than explosives this weekend, and ended in an arrest, Sparta Township Police said.

Police received a call just after 9 p.m. Saturday, July 4, regarding a resident who had set up an “extensive” fireworks display on his front yard on Lambert Road, Lt. John-Paul Beebe said.

When Officer Timothy Lynott arrived at 9:23 p.m., he found the fireworks set up in a semi-circle formations on the front lawn of a home belonging to Bujar Xhudo, 52, Beebe said.

The display included more than 100 separate “explosive airborne devices that were wired into an electronic controller,” Beeb said in a news release.

When Lynott explained the dangers of fireworks and that they are illegal in the state of New Jersey, Xhudo told police he was not going to dismantle the display, which was set up to entertain a large party he was hosting, Beebe said.

Sgt. Keith Hannam then arrived on scene and was also told by Xhudo he would not be disassembling the display, Beebe said.

As a result, Xhudo was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of fireworks.

In consultation with the New Jersey State Police Bomb Squad Unit, members of the Sparta Township Fire Department and Sparta Police officers disconnected the display and transported the materials to police headquarters, where it will be further investigated by a bomb squad unit this week.

Photos Courtesy Sparta Township Police Department