CHANDLER, Ariz. — Witness Theresa Reuda said she was at the dentist, right next door to the print shop explosion Thursday morning in Chandler.
The Chandler Fire Department said Platinum Printing near Rural and Ray Roads blew up just after 9:30 a.m.
Reuda said it was something straight out of a movie.
"To be honest I thought it was a bomb, I really did," she explained. "When it happened it literally felt like everything moved then I saw the glass just go outward like a movie and I ducked right away and my ears were ringing."
She said she immediately got her son, who was getting some dental work done.
"My first instinct was my kid so I ran to the back office and I found where he was at, and the lady cleaning him had her instruments up and was like 'what the heck just happened?' My son's eyes were so big I just said 'we got to we got to go!' I was so scared."
When she got outside, she saw three of the four victims who had severe burns.
"We saw a man rolling on the floor in the parking lot just crying for help saying 'help me, help me!'"
Warning: the following descriptions may be disturbing to read.
"They all looked pretty bad, the one that had blood on his hands he couldn’t get up and his shirt was burned off of him," she continued. "One of the guys, his hair was burned so bad it just looked like it was matted on his head so, it was bad."
Reuda hasn't been able to access her car because it's parked in the blocked-off scene.
"I’ve been told I can't get it for at least 48 hours so I don’t have a car, my son has all his stuff in there like his backpack, his Chromebook."
Chandler PD and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) are still investigating the cause of the explosion, but have ruled out criminal activity. Police say they are not looking for a suspect.
As of Friday afternoon, two of the victims are in critical condition and two are in serious condition according to police.
Chandler police said they’ll have officers out at the explosion site 24/7 all weekend.
Sgt. Jason McClimans said we should find out what triggered the blast in a week or two.
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