Tragedy strikes LA Sheriff's facility as blast claims lives of three officers with FBI and bomb squad joining investigation
The blast was reported just after 7.30am at the Biscailuz Training Facility, located less than 10 kilometres from downtown Los Angeles.
The site serves as a base for the department's elite enforcement teams and bomb disposal units.
Department spokesperson Nicole Nishida confirmed the tragic loss of life, saying three members of the force had been killed.
The precise cause of the explosion remains unclear, though early indications suggest it was accidental.
Officials are yet to confirm whether it occurred during a scheduled training exercise or while handling potential evidence.
California's top officials expressed shock at the incident, which prompted a swift response from local, state and federal agencies.
In a post on X, former attorney general Pam Bondi called the explosion a 'horrific incident".
'Please pray for the families of the sheriff's deputies killed," she said.
She said federal agents are already on-site gathering information.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed, and his emergency services office is coordinating closely with the Sheriff's Department.
The FBI's Los Angeles division confirmed it is assisting with the investigation and agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) are also at the scene.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said on X that fire department arson experts and LAPD bomb squad members are also supporting the investigation.
Authorities remain cautious, given the possibility that more explosive materials could still be stored at the site.
A law enforcement source told CNN the bomb squad's task has been made more complex by the need to ensure no secondary devices or volatile materials remain at risk of detonation.
Kathryn Barger, Chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, said the tragedy had rocked the department.
'I am heartbroken to hear of the terrible tragedy that has unfolded today at an LA County Sheriff's Department facility,' she said.
'I am closely tracking the situation as we learn more about what occurred and the condition of those affected. My heart is heavy, and my thoughts are with the brave men and women of the Sheriff's Department during this difficult time. We stand with them and their families as they navigate the hours and days ahead.'
Aerial footage from local outlet KABC-TV showed the blast zone was concentrated in a car park filled with sheriffs' vehicles and box trucks.
Emergency crews cordoned off the area as investigators began their initial sweep.
Further updates are expected as the investigation progresses.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
13 hours ago
- Perth Now
Minister breaks silence on secret FBI meeting
Australia's Home Affairs Minister has been forced to defend a meeting with the FBI director in Sydney. Donald Trump's FBI director Kash Patel was in Australia and New Zealand in the past week, and a Sunday night dinner meeting between he and Tony Burke was kept secret until Thursday. The meeting sparked criticism from the Greens, given Mr Patel's broad financial and political support for the people who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. 'There are simple security reasons why you wait, sometimes, for somebody to be out of the country,' Mr Burke told ABC Radio National on Friday. 'I certainly don't issue a media release every time I talk to one of my counterparts.' 'But can I say the meeting was really good, and the dinner that we had together, with Reece Kershaw, the commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, was a great discussion of the different ways in which we keep people safe. 'I'm really confident about the cooperation with the United States.' Mr Patel has called the January 6 insurrectionists political prisoners, and his foundation fundraised for the families of the Capitol stormers. On Friday, Mr Burke said the security relationship with the US was strong. Faced with a choice between keeping Australia safe and 'making political points about what happens in another country', Mr Burke said he always chose the former. 'I'm working with the United States. The safety of Australians, part of it is also in the hands of officials who may hold very different views and priorities.' 'From counter-terrorism all the way to child protection, through to what we do in the interception of drugs coming into Australia, the co-operation keeps Australians safe and there are a number of Australians, a good number who are alive because of that co-operation.'
News.com.au
13 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘Very different views': Tony Burke defends meeting with Trump's FBI director
Australia's Home Affairs Minister has been forced to defend a meeting with the FBI director in Sydney. Donald Trump's FBI director Kash Patel was in Australia and New Zealand in the past week, and a Sunday night dinner meeting between he and Tony Burke was kept secret until Thursday. The meeting sparked criticism from the Greens, given Mr Patel's broad financial and political support for the people who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. 'There are simple security reasons why you wait, sometimes, for somebody to be out of the country,' Mr Burke told ABC Radio National on Friday. 'I certainly don't issue a media release every time I talk to one of my counterparts.' 'But can I say the meeting was really good, and the dinner that we had together, with Reece Kershaw, the commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, was a great discussion of the different ways in which we keep people safe. 'I'm really confident about the cooperation with the United States.' Mr Patel has called the January 6 insurrectionists political prisoners, and his foundation fundraised for the families of the Capitol stormers. On Friday, Mr Burke said the security relationship with the US was strong. Faced with a choice between keeping Australia safe and 'making political points about what happens in another country', Mr Burke said he always chose the former. 'I'm working with the United States. The safety of Australians, part of it is also in the hands of officials who may hold very different views and priorities.' 'From counter-terrorism all the way to child protection, through to what we do in the interception of drugs coming into Australia, the co-operation keeps Australians safe and there are a number of Australians, a good number who are alive because of that co-operation.'
Sky News AU
14 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Hillary Clinton OK'd plan to ‘smear' Donald Trump with Russia collusion, documents prove
Hillary Clinton signed off on a plan hatched by a top campaign adviser to 'smear' then-candidate Donald Trump with false claims of Russian collusion and distract from her own mounting email scandal during the 2016 campaign, according to explosive intelligence files declassified Thursday. The 24-page intelligence annex was compiled from memos and emails obtained by the Obama administration in the lead-up to Election Day that laid out 'confidential conversations' between leaders of the Democratic National Committee — including then-Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz — and liberal billionaire George Soros' Open Society Foundations. The plot, the brainchild of the Clinton campaign's then-foreign policy adviser, Julianne Smith, included 'raising the theme of 'Putin's support for Trump'' and 'subsequently steering public opinion toward the notion that it needs to equate' the Russian leader's political influence campaign with actual hacking of election infrastructure. Smith would go on to serve as former President Joe Biden's ambassador to NATO. 'I don't have any comment,' she told The Post when reached by phone Thursday. Open Society senior vice president Leonard Benardo was looped in on the scheme and laid out its intended effect in a series of emails in late July 2016. 'Julie [sic] says it will be a long-term affair to demonize Putin and Trump,' Benardo was quoted as writing July 25. 'Now it is good for a post-convention bounce. Later the FBI will put more oil into the fire.' Two days later, Benardo wrote: 'HRC approved Julia's idea about Trump and Russian hackers hampering U.S. elections. That should distract people from her own missing email, especially if the affair goes to the Olympic level,' an apparent reference to revelations of a massive state-sponsored doping campaign by Russia following the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. 'The point is making the Russian play a U.S. domestic issue,' Benardo also stated. 'In absence of direct evidence, Crowdstrike and ThreatConnect will supply the media, and GRU [Russia's foreign intelligence arm] will hopefully carry on to give more facts.' Special counsel John Durham uncovered the files during a multi-year probe into intelligence activities during the 2016 election. Durham consulted the FBI and CIA, both of which assessed that the information was 'likely authentic' but couldn't corroborate exact copies of the Benardo emails with Open Society Foundations. The CIA also determined that the intelligence was not 'the product of Russian fabrications.' 'Smith was, at minimum, playing a role in the Clinton campaign's efforts to tie Trump to Russia,' Durham concluded. The Trump-Russia investigation was part of what a March 2016 memo included in the annex described as a 'two-prong DP [Democratic Party] opposition [that] is focused on discrediting Trump…. [a]mong other things, the Clinton staff, with support from special services, is preparing scandalous revelations of business relations between Trump and the 'Russian Mafia.'' The 'special services' cited in one of the memos referred to intelligence activities of Obama's CIA and FBI, which may have included the work of 'Trump dossier author Christopher Steele.' The memos also claim then-President Barack Obama was 'put[ing] pressure on FBI Director James Comey through Attorney General [Loretta] Lynch' to wrap up the probe of Clinton's use of a private email server to receive highly classified information while secretary of state. 'Obama,' a January 2016 memo read, 'has no intention to darken the final part of his presidency and 'legacy' by the scandal surrounding the main contender from the [Democratic Party].' The March 2016 memo claimed the 44th president had 'sanctioned the use of all administrative levers to remove possibly negative effects from the FBI investigation of cases related to the Clinton Foundation and the email correspondence in the State Department.' In December 2016, Obama ordered a post-election intelligence assessment of nefarious Russian activity surrounding that year's election. That assessment, published in January 2017 included — over the objections of senior CIA officials — details from the Steele dossier, an opposition research project funded in part by Clinton's campaign and the DNC. In March 2016, then-FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe shared the memos with senior officials at the Department of Justice, suggesting a plot to launch an investigation based on the Democratic campaign document. 'During the first stage of the campaign, due to lack of direct evidence, it was decided to disseminate the necessary information through the FBI-affiliated … technical structures … in particular, the Crowdstrike and ThreatConnect companies, from where the information would then be disseminated through leading U.S. publications,' one Benardo email read. Durham concluded: 'The Office's best assessment is that the … emails that purport to be from Benardo were ultimately a composite of several emails that were obtained through Russian intelligence hacking of the U.S.-based Think Tanks, including the Open Society Foundations, the Carnegie Endowment, and others.' Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and other members of the US Intelligence Community declassified the Durham annex at the request of Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). 'Based on the Durham annex, the Obama FBI failed to adequately review and investigate intelligence reports showing the Clinton campaign may have been ginning up the fake Trump-Russia narrative for Clinton's political gain, which was ultimately done through the Steele Dossier and other means,' Grassley said in a statement. 'These intelligence reports and related records, whether true or false, were buried for years. History will show that the Obama and Biden administration's law enforcement and intelligence agencies were weaponized against President Trump,' he added. 'This political weaponization has caused critical damage to our institutions and is one of the biggest political scandals and cover-ups in American history. The new Trump administration has a tremendous responsibility to the American people to fix the damage done and do so with maximum speed and transparency.' Ratcliffe said in a statement that the files — some of which came from the CIA — showed 'a coordinated plan to prevent and destroy Donald Trump's presidency.' Bondi and Patel insisted that the public disclosures would restore Americans' trust in the government and provide accountability. 'This Department of Justice, alongside the CIA, is committed to truth and transparency and will continue to support good-faith efforts by Congress to hold our government accountable,' Bondi said. 'Chairman Grassley is leading by example and shining light on critical issues of great interest to the American people.' 'The American people deserve the full, unfiltered truth about the Russia collusion hoax and the political abuse of our justice system it exposed,' added Patel. 'Today's declassification and release of documents tied to the Durham report is another step toward that accountability.' 'I'm grateful to Chairman Grassley for his steadfast leadership on this issue, and I look forward to our continued partnership in exposing one of the most shameful frauds ever perpetrated on the American public.' The Post reached out to Benardo, reps for Clinton and the Open Society Foundations for comment. Originally published as Hillary Clinton OK'd plan to 'smear' Donald Trump with Russia collusion, documents prove
