(NewsNation) — Two men face charges after a Missouri house explosion left four people dead in St. Louis County.
Authorities believe the explosion happened at around 1:30 a.m. Friday on Parker Road. It scattered debris over the yards of neighboring homes and killed four people.
Authorities identified victims of the explosion as:
-Travell Eason, 16
-Christopher Jones, 17
-Damario Cooks, 18
-William Jones, 21
The ATF and local bomb and arson detectives are investigating the fatal explosion and working to learn exactly what caused it.
In the meantime, the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office handed down charges to two men.
Terrell Cooks, 37, is charged with three counts of second-degree murder, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of unlawful possession of an illegal weapon.
Seneca Mahan, 43, is facing three counts of second-degree murder, two counts of endangering the welfare of a child, and one count of unlawful possession of an illegal weapon.
Prosecutors tell NewsNation affiliate FOX 2 Now that Cooks was not at the Parker Road home at the time of explosion, but was identified by multiple witnesses as being one of the leaders in the manufacturing process. Law enforcement also reported that Cooks moved boxes of chemicals used to manufacture explosives into a car. They insist that other searches of vehicles linked to him and the place he stayed at revealed large amounts of explosive weapons along with the elements to make them.
Police have placed Mahan at the Parker Road home at the time of the explosion, saying that he suffered minor injuries.
Cooks and Mahan confessed to making fireworks and having the four victims work for them to manufacture the explosives with the intent to sell them to third parties, according to prosecutors.
Cooks and Mahan do not have licenses to manufacture fireworks or work with explosives. They are both being held on a $350,000 cash-only bond each.
FOX 2 Now contributed to this story.