By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER– The Alabaster Police Department has determined a gunshot-like sound near the Navajo Hills neighborhood was caused by a “single large firework” on the afternoon of Aug. 31.

The department received “probably about four or five calls” reporting the loud explosion in the northern part of the city at about 4:50 p.m., according to Alabaster Police Chief Curtis Rigney. Rigney said some callers described the sound as a shotgun blast.

Alabaster residents who posted on the police department’s Facebook page described the sound as “thunder,” and said they heard the explosion “made the ground shake” on 12^th Street Northwest near Alabaster First Baptist Church.

After officers responded to the neighborhood to investigate the sound, a Navajo Hills resident approached an officer and said he had exploded a large firework in preparation for Labor Day.

“I don’t think he realized how loud it was going to be,” Rigney said. “They were planning to shoot off fireworks for Labor Day, and they were testing it out to see if it was going to work. It was nothing more than a big M80-type firework.”

No criminal charges were filed in the incident.