LOS ANGELES – Investigators are examining a possible connection between a deadly explosion at a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department training facility and explosive materials recovered from an apartment complex in Santa Monica, authorities said Friday.
Three veteran sheriff’s detectives were killed Friday morning while handling explosives at the department’s Biscailuz Center Training Academy in East Los Angeles. The blast occurred around 7:30 a.m. in the facility’s parking area, where the department’s bomb squad stores equipment. Witnesses reported hearing a loud boom followed by glass shattering and screams.
The victims were identified as Detectives Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus and William Osborn, all assigned to the department’s Special Enforcement Bureau Arson Explosives Detail. They served 19, 22 and 33 years with the department, respectively…