At least 3 deputies killed in explosion at L.A. County sheriff’s training facility

At least three deputies were killed on Friday in an explosion at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Biscailuz Training Center in East L.A., according to law enforcement sources.

The blast occurred about 7:30 a.m. at the center on Eastern Avenue, which is home to the sheriff’s special enforcement bureau and the arson explosive detail, including the bomb squad.

The three deputies were all members of the arson explosives detail who had served between 19 and 33 years with the department, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said during a Friday morning news conference.

“This is, unfortunately, the largest loss of life for us at the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department since 1857,” Luna said.

Preliminary information indicates deputies were moving an unexploded ordnance recently recovered from a bomb callout when the blast occurred, according to two law enforcement sources. The sources stressed that the investigation is ongoing.

Law enforcement sources initially told The Times that a fourth person had been injured, but Luna clarified Friday morning that there were no other injuries. The three deputies who were killed have not been identified, but Luna said he had spoken with two of the families.

“As you can imagine, those were extremely challenging conversations,” Luna said, his voice breaking with emotion.

The bomb squad picks up potential explosives across the region daily, but it’s a situation that’s always fraught with danger because it’s hard to assess the stability of materials and their age, law enforcement sources told The Times.

After the explosion, LAPD’s bomb squad responded to the scene to help render any other potential explosive materials safe. It took authorities several hours to complete the process, Luna aid.

The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also responded to assist with the investigation.

Officials are still trying to piece together exactly what happened.

Employees told The Times they heard a massive boom shortly before 7:30 a.m. coming from the parking lot where the sheriff’s bomb squad keeps its vehicles. They heard glass shattering and screaming.

In the radio communications reviewed by The Times, a sheriff’s dispatcher tells units that there was an “explosion with three down.” She later advises that a sheriff’s weapons team leader said investigators should “not approach” the scene at the time.

Officials covered the blast area with a large tarp. About 25 yards from the facility, the windows of an SUV cruiser were blown out by the explosion. A sheriff’s helicopter circled over the area as multiple emergency vehicles drove into the facility. Civilian vehicles were being directed out of the parking lot.

At one point, video from the scene showed a bomb technician in a blast suit approaching the site and removing some material before returning to the area where investigators were gathering evidence.

Former L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva told KTLA-TV Channel 5 in an interview that the arson explosives detail includes some of the agency’s most experienced personnel.

“The loss is just staggering,” he said. “It’s gonna take a while to figure out how this happened, why this happened, could it have been prevented.”

Ed Nordskog, a former member of the department’s arson explosives detail and a 34-year department veteran, said the agency’s bomb and arson unit is one of the largest and busiest in the United States. The squad gets daily calls to handle military ordnance that spans from the modern era back to World War I, as well as commercial explosives, blasting dynamite from mining operations, suspicious packages and homemade or improvised items.

“All have different aspects that are dangerous,” he said. “It’s a job that requires at least a year of formal training to be able to work, and several years of field experience to feel fully proficient.”

The explosion and resulting fatalities sent shock waves across Los Angeles County and prompted many unanswered questions. L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said in a statement that she was “heartbroken to hear of the terrible tragedy that has unfolded today at an L.A. County Sheriff’s Department facility.”

“My heart is heavy, and my thoughts are with the brave men and women of the Sheriff’s Department during this difficult time. I stand with them and their families as they navigate the hours and days ahead,” she said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said in a statement on X that he had been briefed on the explosion. The California Office of Emergency Services is “closely monitoring the situation and has offered full state assistance.”

U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi called the situation a “horrific incident” in a statement Friday.

“Our federal agents are at the scene and we are working to learn more,” she said. “Please pray for the families of the sheriff’s deputies killed.”

The Biscailuz Training Center was used for deputy training from 1946 to 1984, when it was closed because of a lack of space. The 36,000-square-foot training center was renovated and reopened in 2017.

The Sheriff’s Department has a history of dangerous incidents occurring at its training facilities with at least four fires at its mobile shooting ranges — tractor-trailers where deputies undergo firearm training — in the last 12 years.

In 2023, two deputies suffered third-degree burns when a fire broke out in a trailer at the men’s jail at Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic.

Richard Montoya, who lives about a quarter of a mile from the blast area, said he and his children were jolted by three successive explosions that shook his house. At first he thought the explosion might have been fireworks, which are common in the neighborhood after the Fourth of July.

But he said he realized it wasn’t fireworks because it felt stronger, like a small earthquake.

The explosion drew several spectators to the edge of an artificial perimeter erected by deputies as the investigation continued. The lack of information in the immediate aftermath of the blast spawned a string of theories by the small audience gathered at Eastern and Marianna avenues.

One man shouted questions to the deputies standing nearby. Another woman wondered aloud how such an accident could have happened.

Luisa Lopez, an employee at Medsco, a sheet metal fabrication facility, said their machines had obscured the sound of the blast, but she became aware of the accident when authorities began racing toward the facility.

“When we heard all the noise of the police, we didn’t think anything of it because they pass [by] all the time,” she said.

Delia Sanchez, who lives nearby in City Terrace, walks along Eastern Avenue every morning. The typically serene, winding road is lined with trees and allows her to walk right down to Cesar Chavez Avenue. But on Friday morning, the area was buzzing with law enforcement responding to the explosion.

“It’s peaceful here. I feel safe with them here,” she said, pointing to the training facility. “I am shocked to hear that somebody was hurt.”