LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Funeral services were announced Tuesday for three detectives who were killed when ordnance exploded at a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department facility.
The blast, which occurred about 7:30 a.m. on July 18 at the Biscailuz Regional Training Center, killed sheriff’s detectives Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus and William Osborn.
Although a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives-led investigation continues, it is believed it involved one of two grenades seized from a Santa Monica apartment complex storage bin a day before the deadly explosion.
The first of the three funerals, for Detective Osborn, is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Aug. 5 at Friends Church at 5091 Mountain View Avenue in Yorba Linda.
The second funeral, for Detective Ecklund, is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Aug. 7 at Grace Baptist Church, 22833 Copper Hill Drive in Santa Clarita.
The third funeral, for Detective Lemus, is scheduled for Aug. 12 at 10 a.m. at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills at 4201 Eucalyptus Ave. in Chino.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna has said sheriff’s Arson Explosives Detail investigators assisted Santa Monica police on July 17 to retrieve a pair of grenades that were found in an apartment building storage unit near Bay Street and Lincoln Boulevard. The devices were examined, X-rayed and believed to be inert, but sheriff’s officials retrieved the grenades and took them to the Biscailuz facility in the 1000 block of North Eastern Avenue “to be destroyed and rendered safe.”
It remains unclear what caused the single grenade to detonate, but Luna said the investigation determined that only one device exploded.
The whereabouts of the second grenade remain unknown. Luna said the department has begun an internal investigation into the handling of the situation.
Investigators have returned to the Santa Monica apartment building to conduct a more thorough search, and at least two search warrants have been executed in Marina del Rey, where authorities were seen searching a boat and a storage facility.
No details of that investigation have been released.
Anyone with information on either of the two devices was asked to call 1-888-ATF-TIPS (8477), or the LASD Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500. Anonymous tipsters can call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
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