Fireworks accident kills Gabriel Ruiz-Urresto, 37, of Central Islip
Police were called to the Central Islip home on Saturday night. Credit: Paul Mazza
A man lighting fireworks at a Central Islip party was killed on Saturday after an explosive struck him in the head, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.
The man, identified as 37-year-old Gabriel Ruiz-Urresto, had been lighting the fireworks in the backyard of his home, on East Sycamore Street just west of Boulevard Avenue, before 9:30 p.m. on the Fourth of July, according to a police department news release and an email from the department’s press office.
"A mortar-style firework" struck him in the head, the email said.
Ruiz-Urresto was declared dead at the scene, the department said. Police had received an anonymous 911 call, according to the press office.
In a separate incident, a short time earlier, a 45-year-old man was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after a firework he was lighting exploded and stuck him in the face at Callahans Beach in Fort Salonga, the department said.
According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, roughly 14,700 people were injured in 2024, with 11 people killed, in connection with fireworks.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
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