One of the two hand grenades found in a complex of houses in town of Santa Monica before the deadly explosion which killed three detectives from the Sheriff of the County of Los Angeles is currently missing, the authorities announced on Friday.
The alcohol, tobacco, firearm and explosives office determined that one of the two grenades exploded on July 18, “and one of the grenades was not counted at that time,” said Sheriff Robert Luna.
“We have done a thorough search to locate the second device, but we haven’t found it yet,” he said in a briefing.
The ATF, which is investigating the explosion, will also assume “total control over the survey of the fate of this other device that is missing,” he added.
According to sources of application of the law, the investigators learned that one of the grenades was missing when they could only find one of the “spoons” – suggesting that only one grenade had exploded on the scene.
The bombing team recovered the two hand grenades left behind – apparently by a previous tenant – in an underground parking storage unit at the complex at 821 Bay St. on the night of July 17 and took them to the Biscailuz Center training academy.
The next day, one of the grenades exploded while the technicians manipulated them in the parking lot.
The explosion has been the deadliest incident for the department for more than 150 years, killing veterans. Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus and William Osborn.
Officials searched a boat moored in Marina Del Rey on Monday and storage lockers on Tuesday and Wednesday that sources of application of the law said that the Times was linked to a person who previously served in the US military.
