Training facility blast kills 3 LA deputies in one of sheriff's department's worst losses of life

LOS ANGELES (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.

U.S. 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.

Luna said the deaths marked the department’s worst loss of life in a single incident since 1857, when four officers were killed by gunfire.

“I have met with two of three families thus far. Those were extremely challenging conversations,” 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, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said via X.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said he was briefed and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services was in contact with the Sheriff’s Department and closely monitoring the situation. He later said on X that members of the State Fire Marshal were helping with the investigation at the request of the ATF.

Jason Zabala, a deputy on the sheriff’s department SWAT team, said those who died were “the best of the best.”

“When you sign up for the job, you know it’s going to be a dangerous job,” he said, adding that as time passes, “you realize how dangerous it is.”

The department held a procession and service for the fallen deputies in the evening.

Tucker reported from Washington, and Rodriguez from San Francisco. Associated Press writer Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.

This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Jason Zabala’s last name.

Medical examiner vans are driven along a procession route near where an explosion at a training facility killed three sheriff's deputies on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Sheriff's deputies stand along a procession route near where an explosion at a training facility killed three deputies on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna gets a hug from Supervisor Kathryn Barger as he arrives for a press conference after three members of the department were killed in an explosion at a training facility on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)

The Biscailuz Training Facility, where an explosion occurred, is shown on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna wears a band over his badge after three members of the department were killed in an explosion at a training facility on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)

Sheriffs deputies monitor a street closure near the site of an explosion at the LA County Sheriff's Special Operations Bureau on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)

A sheriffs deputy monitors a street closure near the site of an explosion at the LA County Sheriff's Special Operations Bureau on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)

A sheriffs deputy monitors a street closure near the site of an explosion at the LA County Sheriff's Special Operations Bureau on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)

A sheriffs deputy monitors a street closure near the site of an explosion at the LA County Sheriff's Special Operations Bureau on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)

Sheriffs deputies monitor a street closure near the site of an explosion at the LA County Sheriff's Special Operations Bureau on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)

Media and law enforcement stage near the site of an explosion at the LA County Sheriff's Special Operations Bureau on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)

A sheriffs deputy monitors a street closure near the site of an explosion at the LA County Sheriff's Special Operations Bureau on Friday, July 18, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent)

Police and emergency vehicles are in place at the scene of a blast at the Biscailuz Center Training Academy in East Los Angeles on Friday, July 18, 2025. (KABC-TV via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump abruptly changed his tone Wednesday about his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, saying they had exchanged a friendly phone call and he’d even invited the leader of the South American country to the White House.

“It was a Great Honor to speak with the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, who called to explain the situation of drugs and other disagreements that we have had,” Trump posted on his social media site. “I appreciated his call and tone, and look forward to meeting him in the near future.”

He wrote that the upcoming meeting would take place at the White House.

That came mere days after Trump said in the wake of the U.S. operation to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro over the weekend that “Colombia is very sick too” and accused Petro of ”making cocaine and selling it to the United States."

In comments to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump added of Petro, “He’s not going to be doing it very long, let me tell you.” Asked whether U.S. intervention was possible, Trump responded, ”Sounds good to me.”

Later Wednesday, addressing thousands of protesters that he had mobilized to rally against U.S. military threats, Petro said he had spoken with Trump for roughly one hour.

“I talked about two things: Venezuela and the issue of drug trafficking,” he told the crowd in downtown Bogotá, where demonstrators had just minutes earlier chanted slogans against the United States at Petro’s behest.

Petro explained to the audience that Colombian politicians allegedly linked to narco-trafficking misled the U.S. president about Petro’s record to turn Trump against him.

“Those (people) are responsible for this crisis — let’s call it diplomatic for now, verbal for now — that has erupted between the U.S. and Colombia,” he said.

Trump now suddenly warming to Petro is especially surprising since Colombia’s president called the U.S. operation in Venezuela an “abhorrent” violation of Latin American sovereignty. He also suggested it was committed by “enslavers” and constituted a “spectacle of death” comparable to Nazi Germany’s 1937 carpet bombing of Guernica, Spain.

Colombia has long been among America’s staunchest Latin American allies, a pillar of Washington’s counternarcotics strategy abroad. For three decades, the U.S. has worked closely with Colombia, the world’s largest producer of cocaine, to arrest drug traffickers, fend off rebel groups and boost economic development in rural areas.

Still, before Trump's conciliatory post, tensions had been rising between the U.S. and Colombia for months.

The Trump administration imposed sanctions in October on Petro, his family and a member of his government over accusations of involvement in the global drug trade. Colombia is considered the epicenter of the world’s cocaine trade.

Trump began his monthslong pressure campaign on Maduro by ordering dozens of lethal strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats launched from Venezuela in the Caribbean. He eventually expanded the operations to also target suspected vessels in the eastern Pacific that came from Colombia.

The U.S. in September added Colombia, the top recipient of American assistance in the region, to a list of nations failing to cooperate in the drug war for the first time in almost 30 years. The designation led to a slashing of U.S. assistance to the country.

“He has cocaine mills and cocaine factories," Trump said of Petro on Sunday. "He’s not going to be doing it.”

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Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre in Buenos Aires, Argentina, contributed to this report.

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This story has been updated to correct the spelling of the Colombian president's name.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro addresses supporters in a rally he called to protest comments by U.S. President Donald Trump, in Bogota, Colombia, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)

Supporters of Colombian President Gustavo Petro attend a rally he called to protest comments by U.S. President Donald Trump, in Bogota, Colombia, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Santiago Saldarriaga)