3 deputies killed in East L.A. explosion leave behind 16 children

A growing memorial sits outside the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department training center in East Los Angeles where three veteran deputies were killed Friday in a deadly explosion.

The fallen deputies — Detectives Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus and William Osborn — served a combined 74 years with the department. Between them, they leave behind 16 children and devastated families still trying to process what happened.

“There are no words to express the pain and sorrow we feel,” said L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna. “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.”

Flowers, candles and handwritten messages now line the perimeter of the Biscailuz Regional Training Center on Eastern Avenue, where the blast occurred around 7:30 a.m. Friday morning. Deputies have remained posted at the site, which is now a crime scene under active investigation.

On Saturday morning, a visibly shaken group of deputies visited the growing memorial. Among them was L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis, who laid flowers.

Authorities say the explosion happened while the detectives — all part of LASD’s elite Arson Explosives Detail — were moving undetonated explosives recovered from a Santa Monica apartment the night before. The team had been called to a residential complex on Bay Street to remove a stash of potentially volatile devices.

When one of those devices was being handled at the East L.A. facility the next morning, it unexpectedly detonated.

The force of the blast shattered windows and set off car alarms from nearly 100 feet away. Despite early reports of multiple injuries, Sheriff Luna later confirmed that the three detectives were the only casualties.

“This is the largest loss of life for us as the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department since 1857,” Luna said. “They are fantastic experts, and unfortunately, I lost three of them today.”

Officials have not said who made or stored the device, but noted that criminal charges could be filed depending on what investigators learn. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is now leading the investigation, alongside the FBI and LAPD bomb squad.

ATF has also deployed its elite National Response Team — a specialized unit of federal agents, explosives experts, forensic scientists, engineers and a K-9 — to the East L.A. training center. The team is only activated for the nation’s most serious and complex fire and explosion cases; this marks just the 14th activation this fiscal year, underscoring the gravity of an incident that claimed the lives of three veteran law enforcement officers.

On Friday evening, a solemn procession escorted the fallen deputies’ bodies from the training center to the L.A. County Medical Examiner’s office. First responders, city leaders, and grieving colleagues lined the 3.5-mile route to salute their fallen.

The department has since released additional information about the deputies:

• Detective Joshua Kelley-Eklund, a former narcotics officer who joined LASD in 2006, was married and the father of seven children.
• Detective Victor Lemus, a former K-9 officer who joined in 2003, leaves behind a wife and three daughters.
• Detective William Osborn, a longtime arson investigator and patrol deputy who joined in 1992, had a wife and six children.

Their collective service spans more than seven decades and has left a mark on countless communities.

“They’re people you see at church,” said one local resident. “I’m still in shock they’re gone.”

A date for a public memorial service has not yet been announced.

Omar Lewis contributed to this report.