Latest news with #JoshuaKelleyEklund
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Grenade killed 3 Los Angeles sheriff's officials, but second grenade unaccounted for
LOS ANGELES — A grenade that was taken to a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department facility detonated last week and killed three detectives, but a second grenade remains unaccounted for, the sheriff said Friday. The sheriff's officials on the Special Enforcement Bureau's Arson Explosives Detail believed the two military-style grenades they seized from a Santa Monica storage unit on July 17 were inert, but one of them detonated the next day and killed the three men, officials said. A federal investigation has determined that the second grenade remains unaccounted for, Sheriff Robert Luna said. Investigators have used X-rays and searched vehicles and lockers at the East Los Angeles facility, as well as the blast site and facility perimeter, since the explosion, he said. 'We have looked at everything out there that we possibly could,' Luna said. He said the investigation into how the explosion happened was ongoing. 'Right now there's a second grenade that we're not 100% sure where it's at,' Luna said. The explosion occurred around 7:30 a.m. on July 18 at the sheriff's department's Biscailuz Training Facility. Killed were detectives Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus and William Osborn, who were all on the Special Enforcement Bureau's Arson Explosives Detail. The day before the explosion, the detail was called to help Santa Monica police after two grenades were found in a tenant storage unit in a building's underground parking garage, Luna said. The explosives detectives 'X-rayed the devices and believed that they were both inert,' Luna said. The devices were taken to the facility to be destroyed and rendered safe, he said. Officials do not believe the second grenade was lost en route from Santa Monica to the training center, Luna said. 'We believe with confidence that did not occur,' he said. Santa Monica is around 20 miles away from East Los Angeles. But if anyone sees what appears to be a grenade, explosive device or even an unknown object, they are warned not to touch it and to call 911. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will lead the investigation into the whereabouts of the second device, Luna said. The ATF has also sent its national response team to Los Angeles. 'I can tell you with clarity from our post-blast examination that we know one device exploded,' said Kenny Cooper, special agent in charge at the ATF's Los Angeles division. 'And we have not recovered any evidence from a second device on that scene.' Cooper said investigators, using explosives-detecting dogs, drones and cherry-pickers to look in trees, have 'meticulously examined the radius of over 400 feet from the blast site multiple times.' 'Over the abundance of caution, we searched a blast area far greater than the results of that explosive device,' Cooper said. There has been changes in how the sheriff's department handles explosives, including treating all devices, even ones believed to be inert, as live, Luna said. Luna said he has called for a thorough after-action review of department policies. 'We're going to turn this upside down. We're going to look at everything,' Luna said. 'We owe it to the families,' he said. 'And for God's sake, I never want this to happen again.' This article was originally published on
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
LAPD station evacuates after military ordnance is dropped off
A couple brought a military explosive device into a Los Angeles Police Department station Saturday afternoon in an attempt to dispose of it, spurring officials to temporarily evacuate the Pacoima station and nearby homes. The incident comes less than two weeks after an explosion killed three Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives — the deadliest incident for the Sheriff's Department in more than 150 years. Three agency veterans died in the incident: Dets. Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus and William Osborn. According to the LAPD, two people came into the Pacoima station at 2:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon and said they were cleaning out the home of a family member who recently died when they found what they believed were explosives. The department's bomb squad used a robot to take images of the plastic box the couple had brought, which had 'several military ordnances inside.' After deeming them safe to transfer, the bomb squad moved them to a storage facility for the U.S. military to collect. In the latest twist in the case in which the sheriff's detectives were killed, one of the grenades found before the explosion is missing, authorities said Friday. Two hand grenades were discovered in a Santa Monica town home complex — one of them exploded with deadly results, and the other one "is unaccounted for at this time," Sheriff Robert Luna said. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
CBS News
4 days ago
- CBS News
ATF, Sheriff provide update in explosion that killed 3 LA County deputies
The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are expected to provide an update on the explosion that killed three deputies at the Biscailuz Training Facility. The Sheriff's Department identified the deputies killed in the explosion as detectives Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus and William Osborn, who were all members of the Arson Explosives Detail, the agency's bomb squad. "There are no words to express the pain and sorrow we feel," LA County Sheriff Luna said. "These heroes represented the best of our Department, exemplifying courage, integrity, and selfless service. This is not only a heartbreaking loss for their families, but for all of us." The deadly explosion happened on July 18 at the sheriff's Biscailuz Training Facility in East L.A. Senior law enforcement officials told CBS News that the LASD's bomb squad recovered at least one grenade in a Santa Monica garage along the 800 block of Bay Street the day before the explosion. Deputies from the department's Arson Explosives Detail held the explosive overnight and were working to render it safe when it exploded. The incident represented the largest loss of life for the department since 1857, Luna said. L.A. County was founded in 1850. Immediately after the explosion, the ATF deployed its National Response Team to investigate the explosion with LASD. The NRT was deployed to the 9/11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon, the Oklahoma City bombing and the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta. The team most recently deployed ot the deadly fireworks explosion in Northern California. LASD and the federal agents have served search warrants at a handful of properties in Marina del Rey and the Santa Monica garage, where the deputies recovered the grenade.
CBS News
7 days ago
- CBS News
Los Angeles Sheriff's Department deadly explosion investigation leads authorities to Marina del Rey storage unit
For the third-straight day, investigations into last week's deadly explosion at a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department training facility were centered in Marina del Rey on Wednesday. Authorities from several agencies assisted the LASD throughout the day on Tuesday in their investigation, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Los Angeles Police Department. The investigations continued into Wednesday, focusing on a storage unit located in Dell Alley, which is behind an apartment complex and is near the Marina. Residents of the apartment complex told CBS News Los Angeles that they received a notice on Tuesday asking that they avoid balconies and windows. They said that the storage units aren't tied to the building, and some former tenants still store items inside. "For them to be here for as long as they've been here lets me know that there's something of interest that was in that locker," said Dante Johnson, a building tenant. The LASD has confirmed that investigators are following leads that are connected to at least one grenade-like device found by its bomb squad inside a Santa Monica garage along the 800 block of Bay Street the day before the explosion. Authorities believe an explosive recovered that night is possibly what caused the blast. The explosion killed three highly trained detectives with LASD at the Biscailuz Training Facility in East L.A. just before 7:30 a.m. Friday. They were identified as Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus and William Osborn. Authorities say the men were working to render an explosive safe when it exploded. "There's a lot more that we don't know than we do know," Sheriff Robert Luna said last Friday, adding that it was too early to say what the deputies were doing when the blast took place. "But our intent is to look at this from the very beginning and figure out what is it exactly that caused this tragic event." As of Wednesday, authorities haven't officially named a suspect connected to the events or announced any arrests.
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Yahoo
Investigators exploring whether grenades found at apartment caused blast that killed 3 LA deputies
APTOPIX Training Facility Exposion LOS ANGELES (AP) — Authorities are looking into whether grenades recovered from a Santa Monica apartment complex caused an explosion last week at a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department training facility that killed three members of its arson and explosives unit. Investigators served a search warrant Monday morning at an address in the Marina del Rey neighborhood. The department didn't say what, if anything, was found as detectives chase leads following the deadly blast early Friday at the Biscailuz Training Facility. Officials said they are exploring whether there may be a connection to the discovery on Thursday of grenades at an apartment complex in Santa Monica, a few miles (kilometers) north of Marina del Rey. The three members of the arson and explosives team responded that day to assist local police. Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said the deaths marked the department's worst loss of life in a single incident since 1857, when four officers were killed by gunfire. Those killed Friday were identified by the department as Detective Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Detective Victor Lemus and Detective William Osborn. They served 19, 22 and 33 years in the department respectively, Luna said. Luna said Friday that it took more than four hours to render the scene safe and the deaths were being investigated by the department's homicide detectives, with the assistance of the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. No one else was injured, he said. The sheriff said the arson and explosives team undergoes in-depth training and responds to more than 1,000 calls a year. Solve the daily Crossword
