los angeles — A government investigation found that three Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were killed in a grenade explosion last year It involved “willful” and serious safety violations at the department, including failing to provide effective training and leaving explosives unattended.
The California Department of Occupational Safety and Health issued eight citations that resulted in nearly $350,000 in fines in January. The Sheriff’s Department is appealing citations, according to the state. The investigation’s findings were first reported in the Los Angeles Times.
A July 2025 explosion in the parking lot of a training facility killed Detectives Joshua Kelly Eklund, Victor Lemos, and William Osborne of the Arson and Explosives Team. It was one of the worst losses of life the department has ever suffered in a single incident.
The previous day, the team recovered two hand grenades from an apartment complex in Santa Monica. Sheriff Robert Luna said investigators X-rayed the devices and believed them to be “dormant,” or inactive.
At least one of the grenades was taken to the LASD training facility, where it exploded. A week later, Luna announced Second bomb He was missing. The department is still investigating what happened to him.
An LASD spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the city’s mayor told the Los Angeles Times that the department is complying with state investigators to the extent permitted by law while other investigations remain ongoing.
According to the state investigation, the Sheriff’s Department failed to correct unsafe working conditions and practices related to handling explosives, and did not provide effective training. It did not ensure that employees used appropriate protective equipment when handling explosives, that training was properly documented, or that the risks of transporting and storing explosive materials were identified and assessed.
Explosive materials were also left unattended and were not stored properly or placed in “proper containers” when transported by hand, said Denise Gomez, a spokeswoman for the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
“This tragedy highlights the responsibility employers have to anticipate risks and take meaningful steps to protect workers, especially in high-risk operations involving explosive materials,” Gomez said.
The Department of Occupational Safety and Health also filed a lawsuit against the LASD in January for failing to comply with an investigation and provide required documents.
When the state first requested training records, dispatch records, grenade-related incident reports, and safety inspection records, the LAPD responded with “only a limited number of documents,” one of which was almost completely redacted, according to the lawsuit.
The state then issued a subpoena seeking additional documents, but the Los Angeles Police Department “served a limited set of documents responding to only two of the 19 categories requested in the subpoena,” the suit said.
In response, the Sheriff’s Department said in a court document that the state waited months to request the documents, giving it little time to fulfill the request. She also said the bomb squad used FBI training materials that could not be disclosed without “jeopardizing public safety and national security,” and that they should be requested from the FBI directly, according to court documents.