Firework explodes outside synagogue in Queens, New York

The NYPD is launching an investigation but does not consider it to be antisemitic.

Kew Gardens, Queens, New York City. (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Kew Gardens, Queens, New York City.
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
A firework was thrown out a van and went off outside a synagogue in the Queens borough of New York City on Friday, prompting the New York Police Department to launch an investigation, the NYPD announced on Twitter.

"[The noise from the firework] dissipated in a few minutes -— in a few seconds — but it was really loud. I'm on the floor and the windows kind of rattled, but he got really scared," neighbor Chris Beck said, according to local ABC affiliate WABC. "It was a second, but it was a huge bang — way louder than a car backfiring. My wife and I rushed to the window because you could feel it. An explosion that you could feel inside."
Despite its proximity to a synagogue in the heavily Jewish Kew Gardens neighborhood, the NYPD does not believe the incident was antisemitic in nature. Rather, it appears to have been a dispute between the people in the van and someone on the street, according to the NYPD Twitter.
No injuries were reported. But despite this, people in the neighborhood were instructed to keep away from the scene of the incident, according to WABC.