posttrib

Monday, May 20, 2013

Lowell man killed in fireworks accident

Maps

Updated: August 7, 2012 6:22AM



LOWELL — A 26-year-old man died Wednesday night after he was injured in a fireworks-related accident at his home.

About 8:50 p.m. Wednesday, Nicholas Saberniak was with family setting off fireworks at his home in the 17400 block of Jansen Court, according to Lowell Police Chief John Shelhart. “He was dropping them into a homemade mortar-type tube,” Shelhart said, when one of the fireworks went off prematurely and “came back and hit him in the face.”

Saberniak was taken to Franciscan St. Anthony Health — Crown Point, and later airlifted to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, Ill., where he died at 11:59 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.

No one else was injured, Shelhart said. Family members were with him at the time of the accident. “It was just a terrible accident,” Shelhart said.





© 2011 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.