LOS ANGELES — Three deputies in an elite arson and explosives unit were killed when an explosion erupted at a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department training facility on Friday morning, authorities said.
The blast that erupted just before 7:30 a.m. local time at the Biscailuz Center Academy Training facility, about 5 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, resulted in the largest loss of life for the sheriff’s department in a single instance since 1857, Sheriff Robert Luna said in a news conference.
Few details of what led to the explosion were initially available. Luna said a Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad had cleared the scene only minutes before the 11:45 a.m. news conference. And the sheriff cautioned that a full accounting of what led to the blast will likely take days or weeks to complete.
The explosion was an “isolated” occurrence, the sheriff said, and there was no ongoing danger to the public. But he also acknowledged that, at the moment, “There’s a lot more that we don’t know than what we do know.
“We lost three lives, and we want to make sure we know what happened,” Luna said.”We want to make sure we don’t repeat this.”
The sheriff described members of the special enforcement bureau, where the explosion occurred, as being the “best of the best,” and the arson detail as an elite unit whose members average more than 1,000 calls a year.
Authorities have not yet released the names of the deputies who were killed, pending family notifications. Luna said the deputies had a collective 74 years of law enforcement experience, including a 19-year department member, a 22-year member and a 33-year veteran.
No one else was injured, the sheriff added.
, citing helicopter footage, said it appeared something had exploded next to a bomb squad vehicle.
LASD officials confirmed just before 10:30 a.m. that a “critical workplace incident” occurred at the facility and that the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the sheriff’s department were investigating.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said she spoke with U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli “about what appears to be a horrific incident that killed at least three at a law enforcement training facility in Los Angeles.”
She said federal agents were at the facility and working to learn more.
Saadullah Sheikh, a spokesman with the the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said firefighters were dispatched at 7:27 a.m. and arrived at the same time. That agency has a facility across the street from the sheriff’s training center.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said he had been briefed, was monitoring the situation and has “offered full assistance.”
Los Angeles County supervisors Kathryn Barger and Hilda Solis both put out statements Friday morning saying they were closely tracking the situation.
“My heart is heavy, and my thoughts are with the brave men and women of the Sheriff’s Department during this difficult time,” Barger said.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement that the city is supporting the sheriff’s department “through this horrific incident in Monterey Park.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
