A grenade is missing from the scene of an explosion that killed three people at a Los Angeles law enforcement training facility, authorities said.
Three veteran deputy sheriffs died in the explosion last Friday, the LA county sheriff’s department’s largest loss of life in a single incident since 1857.
Sheriff Robert Luna said the men were working on two “military-style” grenades when one detonated. The other is unaccounted for, Luna said, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, which is investigating the blast.
Luna said authorities have X-rayed special enforcement bureau vehicles, searched the blast area and examined office spaces and the gym, but have not found the second grenade.
“You get the drift. We have looked at everything out there that we possibly could,” he said, adding that no one from the public has had access to the area.
The grenades were seized at an apartment complex in Santa Monica a day before the explosion, Luna said. He said detectives X-rayed the devices and believed they were inert. The devices were then taken to be “destroyed and rendered safe” at the Biscailuz training facility, where one exploded.
Luna said he has called for an independent review of the policies and practices of the arson and explosives team, and has already changed how they handle these types of situations.
“All future explosive devices, inert or not, will be treated as if they are all live and will be disposed of accordingly,” he said.
It was not known whether the grenades had any connection to the military. The men killed were detectives: Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus, Detective William Osborn. They served 19, 22 and 33 years in the department respectively.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is expected to publish a final report on their deaths in September.
