3 Los Angeles County Deputies Killed in Explosion Friday Morning

Three Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies were killed around 7:30 a.m. Friday (July 18, 2025) by an explosion that occurred at the Biscailuz Training Facility in East Los Angeles. No one else was injured in the blast.

Sheriff Robert Luna said in a press conference that the fallen deputies were members of the elite Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) assigned to the Arson Explosives Detail Facility.

The sheriff said the loss of three deputies in the explosion was the greatest number of line-of-duty deaths the agency has suffered in one incident since 1857. The sheriff’s department was established in 1850.

At press time the names of the deputies had not been released. Sheriff Luna said one had served for 19 years, another for 22 years, and another for 33 years. He choked up when he said he had been meeting with families.

Because the investigation had just started at the time of the Friday morning press conference, the sheriff said he would not provide any information on what led to the explosion or what operation the deputies were conducting at the time.

“There’s a lot more we don’t know than we do know,” he said.

The sheriff said the Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad rendered assistance and made the scene safe for investigators.

LASD Homicide, the FBI, and the ATF are investigating, the sheriff said.

Luna called the fallen deputies the “best of the best.” He said they had years of training and were experts in explosive materials and their disposal. “They answer (on average) 1,100 calls per year,” he said.