LOS ANGELES, July 19, (AP): A blast at a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department training facility killed three members of its arson and explosives unit Friday, marking one of the department's worst losses of life from a single incident, authorities said. All three were veteran deputies. The department has not said what they were doing at the time or what caused the explosion.

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. Those killed were identified Friday evening by the department as Detective Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Detective Victor Lemus and Detective William Osborn. They served 19, 22 and 33 years in the department respectively, Luna said. "They have years of training,” the sheriff said at a news conference. "They are fantastic experts, and unfortunately I lost three of them today.”

The explosion was reported about 7:30 a.m. at the Biscailuz Training Facility, according to sheriff’s department spokesperson Nicole Nishida. Officials were exploring whether there may be a connection to the discovery the previous day of "devices” at an apartment complex in Santa Monica, Nishida said, without specifying what sort of devices they were. The three members of the arson and explosives team responded that day to assist local police. Law enforcement agencies were obtaining a warrant to search the complex for potential explosive material, and police evacuated residents, Nishida said.

Aerial video from KABC-TV showed that 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 were being investigated by the department’s homicide detectives, with the assistance of the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

No one else was injured, he said. US Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on the social platform X that the explosion "appears to be a horrific incident” and federal agents were at the scene to learn more. "Please pray for the families of the sheriff’s deputies killed,” Bondi said.