Teen seriously injured in Central Park explosion

An 18-year-old from Virginia was critically injured after stepping on a device inside Central Park Sunday morning.

The explosion was reported just before 11 a.m. near the area of Fifth Avenue and East 62nd Street.

It was reportedly caused by a homemade device or fireworks “experiment,” the station said, but added there is no evidence of terrorism, ABC7 reported.

According to ABC7, the injured man,Connor Golden, and his friends were visiting from Fairfax, Virginia. He had just stepped onto a rock when the explosion occured.

Though a bag of fireworks was found at the scene, according to NBC10, the friends denied playing with fireworks. They have now been cleared, ABC7 reported, and police believe the device has been in the park for about a day.

The victim was reportedly transported to Bellevue Hospital, where he is undergoing surgery for a “significant foot injury,” an offical told NBC10.

John Murphy, 53, told the New York Daily News he tried to keep the teen conscious after the explosion.

“I saw his friends standing there panicking. I saw the young man laying on the grass. His foot is all but gone,” Murphy saiad, adding he asked them if they had been using fireworks.

“They said, ‘We didn’t have anything. He stepped on something!'” Murphy told the newspaper.

-Reuters contributed to this report

#BREAKING: man suffers severe leg injury in explosion in #CentralPark. Unclear what happened. #anc7ny pic.twitter.com/AiYfka2C5j

— Josh Einiger (@JoshEiniger7) July 3, 2016