The explosion which killed three deputies of the Sheriff of the County of Los Angeles on Friday morning was not the first time that a assistant died in a training center.
The Sheriff Robert Luna said that the Biscailuz Training Center explosion in East Los Angeles has marked the deadliest day in the history of the department since 1857.
But the most recent death in a training center occurred last year, when a deputy died of burns suffered in a fire that broke out in a shooting field.
Most of the 150 deputies who died in the exercise of their duties were killed in chaotic circumstances – fell or stabbed by suspects, struck by a friendly fire, shot by heart attacks on work and killed in car, motorcycle and plane accidents.
Incidents like Friday’s explosion, which occurred in the parking lot of the training center, will not be used for more meticulous examination and potential legal responsibility.
The three deceased deputies – who would be veterans in the department of a specialized unit – have not been identified publicly. Luna told journalists at a midday press conference that he could take months to go to the bottom of what happened.
The family of the deputy who died last year now continues the Sheriff department, alleging that more and more negligence has created a dangerous environment. State regulators inflicted a fine on the county more than $ 300,000 for alleged security violations in the shooting field.
MPs killed on Friday at Biscailuz Center transported an explosive device collected one day earlier in Santa Monica when he exploded in a parking lot, a source of application of the law which was not allowed to speak publicly The Times.
Luna said the deputies had been assigned to the details of the ministry’s criminal fires. He described them as “fantastic experts” who had managed many dangerous calls to collect ammunition.
The last assistant to the Sheriff of the County of Los Angeles to die in the exercise of his duties was Alfredo Flores, who died in April 2024 in Burns suffered from the fire of October 10, 2023 in a shooting field at the Pitchée detention center in Castaic.
Flores, a 22 -year -old assistant and father of four, made a recend of regular firearms when the trailer style range caught fire, according to a civil complaint that his family filed against the county.
In his own complaint, the master of the range in service that day, Mark Thorn, said that he and Flores were trapped inside by a blocked door. He escaped, but not before undergoing “catastrophic” burns, said the complaint.
The county has not yet responded to one or the other of the combinations.
Flores’ lawyer says the Sheriff department should have known that the range was in danger of causing fire. Canon powder, lead and other combustible materials were built inside the structure, lawyers wrote. They quoted a quote from regulators of the state of work of the state, who wrote that the “accumulated propellant” inside the fire field posed a risk of fire.
The California occupational safety and health division in 2024 inflicted a fine in the Sheriff department of more than $ 300,000 for alleged violations. Sheriff managers called upon the quote.
After the fatal fire, the Sheriff department closed its trailers, which it had used since the 1980s as an affordable alternative to permanent fire ranges.
A reserve assistant was killed in a training exercise in 1967. Michael Wigderson tried to disarm an instructor in the installations of a sheriff at East Los Angeles when the instructor’s weapon was released, according to the Bulletin published by the Museum of the Sheriff department. The pistol should not have been loaded.
Wigderson died of a gunshot in his stomach and a second deputy was struck in the arm, said the bulletin.
Staff editor Richard Winton has contributed to this report.
