{"id":33507,"date":"2026-04-01T10:19:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T10:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/04\/01\/state-says-deputy-grenade-deaths-involve-intentional-safety-breach-2\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T10:19:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T10:19:26","slug":"state-says-deputy-grenade-deaths-involve-intentional-safety-breach-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/04\/01\/state-says-deputy-grenade-deaths-involve-intentional-safety-breach-2\/","title":{"rendered":"State says deputy grenade deaths involve ‘intentional’ safety breach"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

A state investigation into how three Los Angeles County Sheriff’s bomb squad detectives were killed by a grenade in the department’s parking lot has found a series of “deliberate” security violations, including a failure to provide effective training and explosives that were left unclaimed for last year’s incident.<\/p>\n

A California Division of Occupational Safety and Health investigation of the July 18 explosion resulted in eight citations and a fine of more than $350,000, according to state agency records reviewed by The Times. The Sheriff’s Department said it has appealed the findings. <\/p>\n

Beyond the Cal\/OSHA investigation, which has not previously been detailed publicly, state attorneys have alleged that the Sheriff’s Department obstructed workplace safety investigations and refused to turn over key documents, according to court filings in the ongoing dispute between the two agencies.<\/p>\n

Dets died in the explosion at the Biscaeluz Center training academy. Victor Lemus, Joshua Kelly-Eklund and William Osborn. <\/p>\n

Kelly-Eklund and Osborn recovered two grenades from a Santa Monica apartment complex. The next day, at least one grenade was transported to the facility when it exploded. The whereabouts of the second grenade is still unknown.<\/p>\n

In a statement, a sheriff’s spokesperson said the department is complying with Cal\/OSHA to the extent permitted under the law as other investigations continue. <\/p>\n

“The Sheriff’s Department is continuing to cooperate with Cal OSHA’s investigation, noting that there are two active criminal investigations ongoing \u2013 the Sheriff’s Department’s death investigation and ATF’s second device investigation,” the statement said, the latter a reference to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.<\/p>\n

But according to a Cal\/OSHA investigator’s affidavit filed in court, sheriff’s officials turned over two of the 19 document requests. The investigator noted that one of the documents provided by the Sheriff’s Department \u2013 \u200b\u200ba report detailing what happened when the two grenades were initially fired \u2013 was so heavily redacted that only two lines of text appeared in it. <\/p>\n

Cal\/OSHA sued the Sheriff’s Department on January 15 and asked a judge to intervene to force the department to hand over the documents. <\/p>\n

“Without access to these documents, (Cal\/OSHA) cannot complete its fatality investigation, and LASD employees remain exposed to ongoing and unknown safety hazards that pose a risk of serious physical injury or further death,” state attorneys argued in a civil complaint.<\/p>\n

Documents filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court show that Cal\/OSHA began investigating the working conditions and training provided to the dead detectives three days after the explosion. By July 23, state investigators had requested to interview his supervisor and several colleagues, among them the person with the most information about the incident.<\/p>\n

Cal\/OSHA’s complaint says that after a series of interviews, the agency sent a written request to sheriff’s officials and the county attorney on Nov. 21 for several documents, including training records, dispatch logs and custody reports for explosive devices. According to the complaint, the state investigator also requested X-ray tests which deputies used to incorrectly determine that both grenades were inert.<\/p>\n

According to the filing, the Sheriff’s Department provided only a “limited number of documents.” Cal\/OSHA escalated its efforts by issuing a subpoena on December 22. By January 15, it filed its lawsuit in court to enforce the records request.<\/p>\n

In court filings, county attorneys representing the sheriff’s department argue that many documents \u2013 such as FBI policies and internal procedures and training methods \u2013 are “sensitive and restricted.”<\/p>\n

\u201cLASD did not hinder the investigation,\u201d county attorneys argued in court filings. “LASD produced the documents pursuant to the initial request and even after objecting to the subpoena.”<\/p>\n

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is also investigating what caused the explosion, and two investigations are ongoing within the Sheriff’s Department: a homicide investigation into the deaths and a separate internal investigation into the disappearance of the second grenade. <\/p>\n

Last week, The Times revealed that a third criminal investigation was underway into the distribution of crime scene photographs of bodies to detectives. Last September, a commander was relieved of duty the same day the investigation began. <\/p>\n

Attorneys for Lemus’s widow have filed a legal claim, accusing the department of not training him or sending him to FBI bomb school as required. The claim alleges that Kelly-Eklund and Osborn failed to properly inspect and handle the grenade, and says Lemus did not expect a live device to be present at the training center.<\/p>\n

The day before the explosion, Kelly-Eklund, 41, and Osborn, 58, responded to a call from the Santa Monica Police Department after finding two grenades in the garage of an apartment complex in the 800 block of Bay Street. The claim alleges that deputies responded to the scene in personal work trucks rather than the department’s bomb trucks.<\/p>\n

The legal claim alleges, “The private trucks contained equipment of lesser quality than the bomb trucks. After arriving at the scene, Osborn used an old X-ray machine to examine the explosive device. Osborn then falsely reported to Santa Monica authorities that the device was inert.” <\/p>\n

The claim argues that Osborn’s early discovery meant he would not take the necessary steps to make the device secure, and alleges that one of the detectives stored the seized items in his truck or home overnight. An explosion occurred the next day in the parking lot of the East LA facility, killing three people instantly.<\/p>\n

Cal\/OSHA said it issued fines totaling $250,000 for “failing to ensure that employees use appropriate personal protective equipment when handling explosive ordnance, including grenades.” <\/p>\n

The department received additional penalties for improperly documenting training, failing to identify and evaluate the dangers of transporting and storing ordnance, and leaving explosives unattended.<\/p>\n

“This tragedy underscores the responsibility employers have to anticipate hazards and take meaningful steps to protect workers, especially in high-risk jobs involving explosive materials,” Cal\/OSHA spokeswoman Denise Gomez said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The recent fine issued by Cal\/OSHA is not the first time the state agency has attacked the Sheriff’s Department.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Cal\/OSHA fined the department more than $300,000 for a series of safety violations that investigators said led to a deadly fire at a mobile shooting range trailer parked outside the Castaic prison complex. Two deputies were hospitalized with burn injuries and Deputy Alfredo “Freddy” Flores died from his injuries.<\/p>\n

In response to questions about the grenade incident and the state’s ongoing efforts to obtain records, Gomez said Cal\/OSHA is trying to avoid future tragedies.<\/p>\n

“The goal of this investigation and every investigation is to prevent workplace accidents, injuries and deaths,” Gomez said. \u201cThe division hopes to work closely with the Sheriff\u2019s Department on the relief and help keep all remaining arson and explosives personnel safe.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A state investigation into how three Los Angeles County Sheriff’s bomb squad detectives were killed by a grenade in the department’s parking lot has found a series of “deliberate” security violations, including a failure to provide effective training and explosives that were left unclaimed for last year’s incident. A California Division of Occupational Safety and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":33510,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[6155,1802,2229,8690,8377,14020,1093,2035],"class_list":["post-33507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bible-verse","tag-breach","tag-deaths","tag-deputy","tag-grenade","tag-intentional","tag-involve","tag-safety","tag-state"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33511,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33507\/revisions\/33511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}