MIAMI _ Downtown Miami cut short its Fourth of July fireworks show Thursday night after a bomb scare prompted police to clear out a nearby road, briefly sending pedestrians fleeing before the situation calmed down.
"It's a major disappointment for a lot of people," said Commissioner Joe Carollo, chairman of the Bayfront Park trust that puts on the annual show, one of the largest in Miami-Dade County.
He said a fireworks show scheduled to last 15 minutes ended after seven minutes after city police instructed the launches to stop.
Jose Solano, the park's executive director, said city police did ask him to halt the show after officers discovered a suspicious package nearby. But Solano said he wasn't able to have a conversation with the operator of the fireworks barge anchored off the park, so the order wasn't relayed. A subsequent call to a city fire marshal did shut down the show just before 9:10 p.m.
"It's disappointing," Solano said. "I understand. They've got to do their jobs."
The scare and surprisingly short fireworks display both played out on social media, with some users posting alarming videos of people fleeing Bayfront Park and others annoyed at the quick ending.
A Miami police spokesperson said she could not confirm information about the agency intervening with the fireworks show. Kenia Fallat said officers did clear out a service road behind the adjoining Bayside Marketplace where the package was found but did not order a widespread evacuation of the crowded park.
