Earl Lory, a devoted husband and father of three, was a “very deep soul” with an intuitive understanding of other people, his family said. The 34-year-old Belmont Cragin resident loved taekwondo and Halloween, and he was excited about his fourth child being on the way.
But his family is now reeling from tragedy after he was killed on the Fourth of July in a fireworks accident during a neighborhood celebration in Hermosa.
On the evening of the holiday, emergency responders received an injured person call from the 3000 block of North Kostner Avenue and found Lory dead from massive head trauma. A handheld mortar-style firework had ignited late, causing a fatal injury, according to the Chicago Fire Department.
Since Lory’s passing, his friends, family and co-workers have come together to share memories about his life and his influence on his community, his mother, Angie Lory, said.
“Everyone had something special with him,” she said.
“As a mother, you only know one side of your son,” Angie Lory said. “I’m learning so much about who he was, as an instructor, as a co-worker, as an employee, as a friend, as a mentor to people, and it’s bringing me joy because now I know so much of him.”
Lory’s accident occurred during an unusually dangerous night of fireworks displays across Chicago this year, authorities said. On July Fourth, unregulated fireworks were behind over a dozen reported fires and one minor burn injury, according to Fire Department spokesperson Larry Langford.
In typical years, Langford said, the city rarely sees more than two or three fireworks-related blazes. This year was an anomaly.
“Often you have individuals that set off fireworks for the benefit of the community,” Langford said. When the people using fireworks are untrained, “the result can be tragic.”
Lory was not the only victim of a fireworks-related accident in Illinois over this year’s holiday weekend. In the early morning of July 5, a 25-year-old man was found fatally injured from fireworks in Wallace Township, according to the LaSalle County coroner’s office.
Langford listed various potential reasons for this year’s abnormally high number of fireworks-related accidents: increased use of fireworks, dry weather and the use of fireworks near vulnerable structures such as back porches or garages.
Whatever the cause, the popular Fourth of July pastime poses an extreme danger often not recognized by celebrants, Langford said.
In 2023, there were eight deaths and approximately 9,700 injuries involving fireworks, with about two-thirds of these accidents occurring close to July 4, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The consumer possession and usage of most fireworks is illegal in Illinois.
According to a report by financial research company ValuePenguin, as of 2022, two of Illinois’ neighboring states were among the largest importers of fireworks in the nation. Missouri was in the top spot, importing $125,849,673 worth of fireworks in 2022, while Indiana ranked seventh.
Over 97% of fireworks imports to the U.S. came from China, the researchers also found.
Though misuse accounts for many fireworks-related injuries and deaths, safety issues with the fireworks themselves are also prevalent, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Out of a sample of fireworks tested by the CPSC in fiscal year 2023, 18% were noncompliant with consumer protection codes in some way. Violations included the presence of prohibited chemicals and pyrotechnic materials overload.
Ald. Nicholas Sposato, 38th, a former firefighter, said that the number of unregulated neighborhood fireworks displays in Chicago on July Fourth seems to increase annually, with people using larger and more dangerous explosives.
Sposato now spends his Independence Day weekends riding along with police officers around his ward, trying to warn his constituents about the safety risks of fireworks. “It just gets worse every year,” he said.
“I was a fireman before I was an alderman,” Sposato said. “I see the consequences, I see the fires, I see the people getting hurt.”
Lory’s mother described her son as the “best dad.” He was a father to three children aged 2, 7 and 14; his wife is expecting another baby girl.
He would coach his 7-year-old daughter in taekwondo and encourage her passion for the sport, his mother said.
In the week since Lory’s passing, his brother, Christopher Lory, has set up a GoFundMe page to support the future education of his children. The page had raised over $11,000 in donations by Friday afternoon.
“We were just very close family, and it’s going to be hard to help raise his kids,” Christopher Lory said. “I’m his only brother … I’m just trying to support his family the best I can.”
He described on the GoFundMe page how his brother had a “smile that could fill the room with happiness”
He recounted his brother’s love of Halloween. The two of them would join their father in volunteering as actors for local haunted houses in Chicago. These were some of his favorite memories with Earl, he said.
“He had a huge heart for everybody,” his brother said. “He was very funny, outgoing, loved his kids.”
His mother said, “All that he would want is not to be forgotten.”
