Tragic news from the LA Sheriffs office

[KevinP73]

My sincerest condolences to all those who wear the uniform.

[Arizona_928]

There’s a reason my agency only hires ex mil eod techs… safely transported it away from the populated area then proceeded to attempt to deactivate. No no. Throw a charge on it and blow it.

[KFC911]

Saw that earlier ... were they transporting or dis-arming? Tragic... may they RIP.

[rfuerst911sc]

Very sad .... RIP .

[3rd_gear_Ted]

The explosive were taken from a residence and were deemed to be inert for transport.
Now that the stuff exploded is the originator of the explosive in any kind of legal peril?

[Arizona_928]

Inert for transport is not a thing. Either it’s inert or live. Default is live until proven inert.

Weird sop to deactivate such an explosive AFTER transporting it away from the city…. Take it to the range and add a charge to it. Blow it and live another day.

This is the opposite of any military sop.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by KFC911

Saw that earlier ... were they transporting or dis-arming? Tragic... may they RIP.

Originally Posted by 3rd_gear_Ted

The explosive were taken from a residence and were deemed to be inert for transport.
Now that the stuff exploded is the originator of the explosive in any kind of legal peril?

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-07-18/explosion-la-sheriff-training-facility

Three deputies were killed Friday in an explosion at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Biscailuz Center Training Academy in East L.A., the deadliest incident for the agency in more than 160 years.

Deputies with the arson explosives detail, an elite unit within the Sheriff’s Department, were moving ordnance in the training center’s parking lot about 7:30 a.m. when the blast occurred.

The deputies were identified Friday evening as Dets. Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus and William Osborn. They had served 19, 22 and 33 years with the department, respectively, authorities said.

The Sheriff’s Department is currently investigating an apartment complex in the 800 block of Bay Street in Santa Monica in connection with the explosion, according to department spokesperson Nicole Nishida. The three deputies killed in the blast responded to a call to assist the Santa Monica Police Department at the complex on Thursday.

The explosion is being investigated as a negligent homicide, which could result in charges against the person who made or stored the device, law enforcement sources told The Times.

The Santa Monica Police Department evacuated residents from the Bay Street apartment building Friday afternoon, while authorities continue to search the location for any additional explosive material, Nishida said. The FBI and Los Angeles Police Department’s bomb squad are assisting with the investigation. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is expected to lead a federal probe into the cause of the explosion.

He said it will take time — possibly weeks or months — to investigate the incident.

Osborn, who joined the Sheriff’s Department in 1992, was described as “one of [the] tenured bomb technicians regularly relied upon when faced with a new challenge” in a department news release. He is survived by his wife, Det. Shannon Rincon, four sons and two daughters.

Kelley-Eklund joined the Sheriff’s Department in 2006 and leaves behind his wife, Jessica Eklund, and their seven children. Prior to joining the arson explosives detail, he worked as a narcotics and murder investigator as well as a field training officer who mentored new deputies.

Lemus comes from a family of Sheriff’s Department employees, including his wife, Det. Nancy Lemus; sisters Sgt. Belen Lemus, Deputy Perla Lemus and Custody Asst. Wendy Lemus; and brother-in-law Sgt. Robert Catalan. He joined the department in 2003 and was known for his ability to train fellow deputies and notable arrests involving career criminals. He leaves behind three daughters.

A grenade was recovered at the Santa Monica apartment complex Thursday, a city police officer told The Times.

Michael Kellman, who lives in the building, told The Times that a fellow tenant called the police Thursday after discovering a bag of grenades tucked away in her storage unit.

She has been living in the building for several years and believes the bag was left behind by the former occupant, he said. Authorities returned to her unit Friday to scour the apartment for any remaining explosives.

Damn sad. One guy left behind 6 kids and another left behind 3 kids.

[LWJ]

We had a bag of old dynamite on the farm. Salem Bomb squad came out and detonated on site. That is SOP.

Sad.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by LWJ

We had a bag of old dynamite on the farm. Salem Bomb squad came out and detonated on site. That is SOP.

Sad.

Which makes sense in many circumstances, out in the middle of no where, with enough explosives to be a problem, then perfect, detonate in place.

Relatively safe to transport explosives in a place where they could potentially cause a lot of damage, probably better to move them and detonate someplace safe.

What's crazy is when they find WWII bombs in the middle of a city in Europe somewhere.

Last year a 2000lb bomb was detonated in Cologne.

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-large-wwii-bomb-detonated-in-cologne/a-70474222
2024

Authorities in Cologne detonated a 1-ton US bomb from World War II after only defusing one of its two fuses. The city said it was the most complex bomb disposal operation since 1945 as several hospitals are nearby.

The city had also warned shortly before the detonation that even if everything went as planned, "a muffled bang will be discernible to the public, even beyond the 500-meter (roughly 550-yard) at-risk area."

After warning that they had not been able to defuse the bomb safely, a delay followed as trucks then brought tons of sand to the site to prepare for the controlled detonation.

The bomb was unearthed two days earlier during excavations at a construction site for a new medical facility in the eastern district of Merheim.

^that^ seems like a big bomb, 1 ton, until you see the article below from last month

June 2025
https://www.cnn.com/2025/06/04/europe/cologne-ww2-bomb-evacuation-intl

The German city of Cologne has finished evacuating 20,500 people, its largest evacuation order since World War II, after officials defused three massive, unexploded bombs.

The American bombs – two 20-ton weapons and another that weighs 10 tons – were found in a shipyard on Monday, the city said, causing a huge “danger zone” to be sealed off on Wednesday morning.

50 tons of bomb! Holy Sheiße!

[KFC911]

It was reported to be a grenade in transport on TV later... don't know if true or not. How does a grenade accident happen .... age, etc.?

[Arizona_928]

Originally Posted by LWJ

We had a bag of old dynamite on the farm. Salem Bomb squad came out and detonated on site. That is SOP.

Sad.

Extreme shock sensitive. TNT sweats nitroglycerin, which static electricity can easily set it off.

I would barrel up any of the left over red dirt.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Arizona_928

Extreme shock sensitive. TNT sweats nitroglycerin, which static electricity can easily set it off.

I would barrel up any of the left over red dirt.

Or pack it down real well with a good heavy tamper.

[Arizona_928]

The residue won’t explode. Just an environmental contaminant.

[Arizona_928]

Not a lot of info on this.

The only thing I remember from yesterday was getting this weird email from our HOA president saying that inert grenades had been found in the garage

https://abc7.com/post/investigation-continues-cause-east-los-angeles-explosion-killed-3-sheriffs-deputies/17202759/

[speeder]

It’s a simply unbelievable tragedy, somehow a grenade or several went off and just blew up all three deputies that were carrying or doing something else with it/them? We have at least two retired LASD cops here, (DavidI and MMarsh), they might know more. Or not.

Super sad for those directly affected.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by speeder

It’s a simply unbelievable tragedy, somehow a grenade or several went off and just blew up all three deputies that were carrying or doing something else with it/them? We have at least two retired LASD cops here, (DavidI and MMarsh), they might know more. Or not.

Super sad for those directly affected.

And these guys were part of the bomb unit.

"Deputies with the arson explosives detail, an elite unit within the Sheriff’s Department, were moving ordnance in the training center’s parking lot about 7:30 a.m. when the blast occurred."

And it sounds like at least one of them was a senior guy.

"Osborn, who joined the Sheriff’s Department in 1992, was described as “one of [the] tenured bomb technicians regularly relied upon when faced with a new challenge” in a department news release. "

[GH85Carrera]

Very sad news indeed. I just wonder if overconfidence was part of the tragedy. Bombs are never routine. Why have three men to handle a single grenade?

[A930Rocket]

^^^ Complacency. I read between the three of them, they had about 74 years of experience with EOD. That’s a lot of experienced, to get blown up by a grenade.

[3rd_gear_Ted]

Supposedly the grenade was X rayed and was determined inert.
The 3 officers were rolling a cart with the grenade on it.

https://abc7.com/post/lasd-explosion-updates-device-exploded-killed-3-detectives-confirmed-grenade-officials-say/17229668/

[DavidI]

This blast was a tragedy that took the lives of three of my friends. I knew all of them, including the wife of one of them. It makes no sense. Whatever the investigation reveals, we lost three great men. We appreciate everyone's support during this difficult time, David.