Bungled SWAT Raid Leaves 12-year-old Girl Badly Burned, No Meth Lab Found

Adan Salazar

10/12/2012

An early morning SWAT team raid on an alleged meth house produced no meth lab or arrests and instead left a 12-year-old girl badly burned by a flashbang grenade.

It all happened at a Billings, Montana home Tuesday around 6am. While the Fasching family slept, a SWAT team assembled outside their home mobilizing a coordinated raid.

The grenade used was of the non-lethal “flash bang” variety, made to disorient and cause temporary vision and hearing impairment through a bright flash and a loud blast. It was positioned into a window by a SWAT member using a metal pole called a “boomstick,” which acts as a detonator once the grenade is in place.

The window SWAT chose, however, was in a room where two girls were sleeping, and due to an unexpected delay the grenade fell off the boomstick and went off right next to a girl that lay sleeping on the floor under the window.

And now… the rest of the story. …..