A New Jersey man lost part of his hand in a mysterious blast inside his apartment Thursday evening, police said.
Police were called to the Kennedy Boulevard home in Guttenberg when a loud explosion rang from the man's apartment, shaking the neighborhood.
Neighbor Jose Mejia said he heard a big boom, then saw his friend stumble out of his home. He had lost his hand, Mejia told NBC 4 New York in Spanish.
Police confirmed a man about 50 years old was injured.
"He blew part of his hand off, mostly his fingers," said Guttenberg Police Director Joel Magenheimer.
The building never caught fire, but police flooded the scene and closed the street immediately.
A hazmat team and bomb squad were seen gingerly entering the man's basement apartment, checking it out to see if there were any additional explosives inside.
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After a thorough search, investigators couldn't figure out what the man was doing in there that caused the explosion.
"Possibly fireworks, I really couldn't say. We really don't know," said Magenheimer. "There's no evidence of anything at this point. Except debris."
Mejia said he heard from friends it might indeed have been fireworks. Police determined it was not terror related.
"Any kind of explosion will make you suspicious. That's why we had the bomb squad up here, terrorist task force," said Magenheimer. "Everybody's releasing it, saying that whatever he was doing, they're not concerned too much about it."
