NewsChannel5 reports a 12-year-old girl was killed and a woman was seriously injured when a rocket fired into a crowd watching a Fourth of July fireworks display in Independence, a suburb south of Cleveland, last night.

Lacey Seminsky of Brecksville died at MetroHealth Medical Center of a head injury suffered in the accident.

MetroHealth also reported Laverne Pohana, 76, is in serious condition with burns over 15 percent of her body.

Two other people were treated at Marymount Hospital for minor burns and released.

Witnesses at Elmwood Park said it appeared a cannon used to launch fireworks into the sky tipped over just as it was firing. The piece of fireworks shot into the crowd and exploded.

Mathew Perko narrowly escaped the fireball that came streaking toward the crowd. "It just hit and everybody was just screaming and running, and pieces of debris just went like this and hit me," he said.

The Independence police chief told NewsChannel5 all safety precautions were in place; the area had been cordoned off and there was a safe distance between the crowd and the source of the fireworks.

Coyote Rainbow Display is the fireworks company who put on the deadly display. The company and investigators are trying to find out what went wrong. "We've been doing this 10 years, never had anything like this happen. We've been doing it here for a number of years, and never had any problems like this," said Gary Beohmerle, Vice President of Coyote Rainbow Display.

For More Information:

• Fireworks Safety For You And Your Children
• The Firework Code
• Make Your Fourth Of July Safe
• Fourth Of July