Three Los Angeles County sheriff’s detectives were killed on a Friday morning in July when an explosion tore through the parking lot of the Special Enforcement Bureau at the Biscailuz Center training academy in East Los Angeles. The blast was reported just before 7:30 a.m.
The dead were Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus and William Osborn, all assigned to the department’s Arson-Explosives Detail. Sheriff Robert Luna said that together they had served the community for 74 years. Kelley-Eklund had 19 years on the job, Lemus 22 and Osborn 33. Luna called them “elite” and “fantastic experts.”
It was the department’s largest single loss of life since 1857. Los Angeles County was founded in 1850.
A grenade from Santa Monica
Senior law enforcement officials told CBS News the department’s bomb squad had gone to a garage in Santa Monica the day before, where at least one grenade was found. It was taken to the Biscailuz facility. Later on Friday, officials said it appeared the deputies were working to make that grenade safe when it went off. Luna said the grenades were thought to be inactive.
At his news conference Luna would not say how events unfolded. “There’s a lot more that we don’t know than we do know,” he said. The scene had been made safe for investigators only minutes before he spoke. He confirmed there was no ongoing threat to the community.
A task force of the LAPD Bomb Squad, ATF, FBI and the sheriff’s department went back to the Santa Monica neighborhood that day with a search warrant to look for more explosive material. Residents of the complex were evacuated. Investigators had not yet determined whether the devices in the garage were connected to the blast.
Response
U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi wrote on X that federal agents were at the scene. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said her agency was working with local and federal law enforcement. The ATF sent its National Response Team. LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said his department had sent its Bomb Squad, SWAT and K-9 teams, and Mayor Karen Bass confirmed LAPD investigators were helping at the scene.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office offered full state assistance. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, the board chair, said she was “heartbroken.”
California State University, Los Angeles, just north of the facility, said there was no threat to the campus. A parking lot there served as a staging area for the sheriff’s department.
Searches and a missing device
Searches turned up more explosives. Authorities found material linked to the blast in a Santa Monica storage unit on July 18 and in Marina del Rey on July 22. One device recovered in Santa Monica later could not be accounted for, and a search of the training facility showed it was missing. Investigators used X-ray technology to look for it around the blast zone without success. “We have looked at everything out there that we possibly could,” Luna said.
Sources
- 2025 East Los Angeles explosion – Wikipedia
- 3 deputies killed in LA explosion at sheriff's department training facility: "There's a lot more that we don't know"
- 2025 East Los Angeles explosion
Sources
- 2025 East Los Angeles explosion – Wikipedia
- 3 deputies killed in LA explosion at sheriff's department training…
