3 LA sheriff’s deputies killed in explosion; probe possibly tied to Santa Monica apartment

LOS ANGELES – Three sheriff’s deputies who were members of the Special Enforcement Bureau’s Arson Explosives Detail were killed following an explosion at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Biscailuz Center Training Academy in East Los Angeles Friday morning, officials said. 

What we know:

The Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to a report of an explosion around 7:25 a.m. at the facility located in the 1000 block of Eastern Avenue, near the 710 Freeway.

The training center was evacuated and roads in the area were closed as the investigation continued. The impact of the explosion was so powerful it broke the windows of patrol cars in the parking lot. 

The facility serves the sheriff’s Special Enforcement Bureau and Arson/Explosives Detail.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the post-blast investigation and is being assisted by the ATF, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said during a news conference on Friday.

“There’s a lot more that we don’t know than what we do know. But our intent is to look at this from the very beginning and figure out what is it exactly that caused this tragic event,” Luna said. 

Explosion at training facility

What we don’t know:

While the official cause of the explosion is under investigation, preliminary information indicates this was a possible training accident. 

It’s unclear what type of explosive materials were being handled by the deputies.

The deputies were identified as detectives Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus and William Osborn. They were all assigned to the Special Enforcement Bureau’s Arson Explosives Detail, according to the department.

Luna said the deputies had a combined 74 years of service between them at 19 years, 22 years and 33 years.

LASD deputies killed in explosion identified

Three LASD deputies were killed in an explosion in East LA on Friday. Detectives Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus and William Osborn had decades of experience in the department.

“I have met with two of the three families thus far. And as you can imagine, those were extremely challenging conversations,” Luna said, holding back tears.

The deputies had 20 plus years of experience in the field of arson/explosives. Two of the deputies provided security for the LA County Board of Supervisors. 

Link to Santa Monica apartment 

According to law enforcement, the deadly explosion may be linked to a Santa Monica apartment complex. 

Officials say on Wednesday construction workers were installing EV chargers when they found grenades in a former tenant’s personal storage unit. The bomb squad was then called in. LASD officials say the grenades found at the apartment, located at 821 Bay Street, were related to today’s explosion. LASD homicide investigators were at the apartment Friday afternoon.

Santa Monica investigation tied to LASD explosion

Bomb squad investigators at a Santa Monica apartment building found what appeared to be grenades. The alleged grenades may be connected to the explosion at a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department training facility that killed three deputies.

This is the largest loss of life for the LA County Sheriff’s Department since an ambush in 1857. In terms of explosives, in 1986 two LAPD bomb squad members were killed in an explosion in North Hollywood.  

A procession was held around 5 p.m. Friday, transferring the deputies’ bodies from the training center to the medical examiner’s office. Dozens of sheriff’s deputies stood in formation and saluted as the bodies were carried to a trio of medical examiner vans. 

Local, state leaders react: ‘An extraordinarily painful day’

What they’re saying:

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi was among the first federal officials to comment, saying on X that she had spoken with both Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna and U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. She also confirmed that the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were assisting with the investigation.

Los Angeles County Supervisors Hilda L. Solis, Kathryn Barger and Janice Hahn all expressed sorrow and support following the explosion. Solis said she was deeply saddened by the loss and is in contact with Sheriff Robert Luna. Barger also expressed sympathy and said her thoughts are with the department and victims’ families. Hahn called the deadly explosion “an extraordinarily painful day.”

LA Mayor Karen Bass said the city was supporting the tragic incident and that LAFD arson investigators and LAPD bomb squad personnel are assisting as needed. 

“The thoughts of all Angelenos are with all of these impacted by this blast,” the Mayor said on X.

Sen. Adam Schiff called the incident “an unbelievable tragedy” and added that he is “praying for the deputies’ families and every member of the sheriff’s office.”

Los Angeles-area U.S. Rep. Judy Chu said on X that she was “heartbroken by the tragic news of the explosion at the @LASDHQ training facility in Monterey Park that claimed the lives of three brave deputies.”

“I am monitoring the situation closely,” she wrote. My deepest condolences go out to the families, friends and fellow law enforcement officers mourning this unimaginable loss.

National security expert provides insight

What we know:

National security expert Hal Kempfer, who has worked previously with the LASD, called the situation “a horrific thing to see.” 

“They are probably one of the best trained, most professional, special operations, law enforcement organizations in the country and the world,” he said. “So for something like this to happen, they’re gonna be looking at this very closely and trying to figure out what exactly occurred.”

Regarding the cause, Kempfer said it seems the deputies were transporting explosive materials when the incident occurred. 

“It just tells me that probably they were transporting or storing something and something went horribly wrong,” he said. “Frankly, things do go wrong with demolitions. You take a lot of precautions and everything, but it’s dangerous work, dangerous training, dangerous business, and sometimes accidents do occur.” 

Kempfer described the possible situation that may have unfolded. 

“It would make sense that you’d have a driver and an assistant driver in a vehicle moving this, but because it is dangerous explosives, there may have been a couple of other deputies assigned to provide security in case anything happened along the way, and that might explain why you have four deputies involved,” he said. 

“You know the driver sees things, but the assistant driver is an extra pair of eyes. And obviously with something like, you know, if you’re moving a load like this, you absolutely want to be extremely cautious about what you’re doing. So you need that extra set of eyes, but then of course, if anybody from the outside had knowledge that this was a load of explosives being moved, obviously that would make it a potential target for pilferage or worse. So you’d probably want some security as well. On the other hand, it could have been that they were moving to a range or something like that or moving to another facility. And it just happened that there were, you know, four deputies total because of whatever they were planning to do.”

As ar as the protocol goes, Kempfer said it all depends on the amount of explosives that are being moved. 

“If you’re moving a few flashbangs, you’re not going to have four deputies needed for that,” he said. “But if you are moving a larger load of explosives, and it could be explosives that were tied to evidence, this could be a part of a seizure, and that would make sense to me if it was part of a seizure because a lot of times when you recover explosives from a crime scene, they’re not necessarily in as good a shape as the stuff that you would normally use. They may be less stable, they may be old, there may be a lot of problems,” he added.

Kempfer said it was “improbable, if not impossible” that the deputies did not know the materials were explosive or active. 

“If this was something where someone had secretly planted explosives, that would be a different situation. It sounds like they were just simply moving explosive material and it sounds like a tragic accident,” he said. “Things just sometimes go horribly wrong with explosive materials.”