EAST LOS ANGELES — Federal, county and local law enforcement officers were continuing to search a group of storage units in Marina del Rey July 23 for evidence related to the explosion that killed three Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department detectives in East Los Angeles July 18.
Los Angeles Police Department officers, Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau investigators, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Arson and Explosives Division and personnel from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives served search warrants at group storage units in the 4200 block of Via Marina around 3:45 p.m. July 22.
Using robots, law enforcement officers spent several hours painstakingly moving the robot towards the storage units.
During the hours-long operation, nearby residents were told to stay away from their doors and windows.
“It’s very scary and I don’t really know what’s going to come of it,” one resident who lives in a nearby apartment complex told Fox11. A second resident seemed impressed by the robot, saying he had only seen them “in movies.”
“Investigators are continuing to follow up on additional leads and evidence to determine the origins of the devices located … in Santa Monica,” a statement from the sheriff’s department said. “These investigations take time, and we are committed to conducting a thorough examination to accurately determine the cause.”
A drone and a K-9 unit were also at the scene during the multi-agency operation.
It was not immediately known if any explosive devices were found. There were no evacuations.
The search for evidence was in connection to the fatal explosion that was reported at 7:25 a.m. July 18 at the Biscailuz Regional Training Center in the 1000 block of North Eastern Avenue, southwest of the interchange of the San Bernardino (10) and Long Beach (710) freeways.
Killed in the blast were sheriff’s detectives Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus and William Osborn, all of whom worked for the department’s Arson Explosives Detail. The trio had more than 70 years of combined experience with the department.
“There are no words to express the pain and sorrow we feel,” Sheriff Robert Luna said in a statement over the weekend. “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.”
Luna called the department’s Special Enforcement Bureau, “The best of the best.”
“The individuals who work our arson explosives detail, they have years of training,” Luna said during a news conference near the facility hours after the blast. “They are fantastic experts, and unfortunately, I lost three of them today.”
It is suspected the detectives were killed when ordnance collected a day earlier from a Santa Monica apartment building storage bin exploded in the training center’s parking lot, according to the sheriff’s department.
According to the sheriff’s department, investigators assisted the Santa Monica Police Department July 17 at the building in the 800 block of Bay Street, near Lincoln Boulevard, and recovered items “that appeared to be grenades.”
A resident of that complex told KTLA5 that police and sheriff’s officials had been at the building to retrieve some old grenades that a tenant found in a storage unit, apparently left behind by a previous tenant.
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 Los Angeles Times.
Luna called the explosion “the largest loss of life for us as the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department since 1857.” That was when Sheriff James Barton and several members of his posse, including three deputies, were ambushed in present-day Santa Ana by criminals they were pursuing. Barton died just three weeks into his second term, according to a sheriff’s department online historical timeline.
