LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥 A Friday blast at a Los Angeles County Sheriff鈥檚 Department training facility killed three members of its arson and explosives unit, marking one of the department's worst losses of life from a single incident, the sheriff said.
All three were veteran deputies. The department hasn鈥檛 said what they were doing at the time of the blast or what caused it.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said the arson and explosives team undergoes in-depth training and responds to more than 1,000 calls a year. The deputies had served 19, 22 and 33 years in the department, Luna said.
鈥淭hey have years of training,鈥 the sheriff said at a news conference. 鈥淭hey are fantastic experts and, unfortunately, I lost three of them today.鈥
The explosion was reported about 7:30 a.m. at the Biscailuz Training Facility, Los Angeles County Sheriff鈥檚 Department spokesperson Nicole Nishida said.
Aerial footage from KABC-TV shows the explosion happened in a parking lot filled with sheriff's patrol cars and box trucks. Three covered bodies could be seen near a truck with a ramp attached to a side door. A patrol cruiser parked nearby had its rearview mirror shattered by the blast.
Luna said it took more than four hours to render the scene safe and the deaths are being investigated by the department鈥檚 homicide detectives, with the assistance of the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. No one else was injured in the explosion, he said.
An early line of investigation was looking at a possible training accident, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the matter who was not authorized to discuss it and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
In a post on X, Attorney General Pam Bondi said the explosion "appears to be a horrific incident鈥 and federal agents are at the scene to learn more.
鈥淧lease pray for the families of the sheriff鈥檚 deputies killed,鈥 Bondi wrote.
Luna said the deaths marked the department鈥檚 worst loss of life in a single incident since 1857, when four officers were killed by gunfire, and noted that he couldn鈥檛 release the deputies鈥 names because he had yet to speak to one of the families.
鈥淚 have met with two of three families thus far. Those were extremely challenging conversations,鈥 Luna said, his voice breaking.
Arson investigators from the Los Angeles Fire Department and members of the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad were also assisting the investigation at the training facility, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a post on X.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom鈥檚 office said he鈥檚 been briefed and that the Governor鈥檚 Office of Emergency Services is in contact with the Sheriff鈥檚 Department and closely monitoring the situation. He later posted on X that members of the State Fire Marshal were helping with the investigation at the request of the ATF.
Jason Zavala, a deputy who is a member of the sheriff鈥檚 department SWAT team, called the deputies who died 鈥渢he best of the best.鈥
鈥淲hen you sign up for the job, you know it鈥檚 going to be a dangerous job. As the years goes on, you realize how dangerous it is,鈥 he said.
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Tucker reported from Washington and Rodriguez from San Francisco.
