An annual July 4 fireworks display in Columbia Heights was shut down Wednesday night before it could begin. Police and fire department officers confiscated fireworks from a front yard in the neighborhood, disappointing a large crowd that had gathered for the event.

Instead of fireworks, the sky lit up with police lights. D.C. Fire Department and Metropolitan Police Department officers arrived shortly after 9 p.m. at the 13th Street rowhouse, where about 100 people had been celebrating the holiday surrounded by American flags.

“Every year we search out illegal fireworks,” says Vito Maggiolo, spokesperson for D.C. Fire and the Emergency Medical Services Department. “When we find them, we confiscate them—this is not unusual. For us, illegal fireworks are nothing but dangerous.” MPD says it recovered tens of thousands of illegal fireworks on July 4 this year.

People at street level and on rooftops along the block in Columbia Heights began booing loudly as officers grabbed the fireworks. None of the fireworks had been ignited yet. More squad cars showed up as crowds surrounded the officers, objecting to the seizure.

Police at one point handcuffed a man identified by eyewitnesses and social media posts as Mack James, the former ANC commissioner who organizes the neighborhood tradition. According to the public incident report provided by MPD, the fire department asked the man for an ID and he refused to provide one, so they placed him in handcuffs.

The crowd began chanting, “Let him go!” Ultimately, he was released without citation.

DCist profiled James and his fireworks display on Tuesday. He described the tradition as “people coming together in the community, having a nice time.”

The following day, Dave Statter, a former WUSA 9 reporter who now runs a website focusing on fire and EMS issues, began tweeting at D.C. public safety officials, asking whether they would allow the show to go on as it has for decades.

Statter thought officials should shut down the display. “I don’t find anything neighborly about commercial display type fireworks shot near homes, cars & people with none of the required safety measures,” he tweeted.

D.C. law bars “any firework that explodes, such as cherry bombs, salutes, Roman candles, floral shells, artillery shells” and “any firework intended to move after the piece is placed and fired; such as bottle rockets, parachutes, buzzbombs, pinwheels, helicopters, [and] jumping jacks.”

This is the first time that police have put the kibosh on the fireworks show in Columbia Heights since James began doing it in 1984. “They drive by now and watch themselves and keep going,” he told DCist earlier this week. “If I was the only one, they could come and shut me down and say you can’t do it or whatever. But you gotta stop all these other people.”

This year, though, the fire department had undercover officers observing the residence, according to the MPD incident report. James told DCist earlier this week that the display cost around $1,500.

DCist editor in chief Rachel Sadon says she regrets the level of detail in her story about James’ annual display. “In seeking to present a slice of D.C.’s vibrant community life, I failed to fully consider the legal consequences to the subject of the story,” Sadon says. “Although I received permission from Mr. James to report this story, I provided more detail than was necessary. I deeply regret doing so.”

James has not returned comment after multiple phone calls.

After cops left 13th Street NW, fireworks from across the city, including nearby, were visible throughout the night sky.