The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department was executing a search warrant Friday at a Santa Monica residence related to the investigation of an explosion in East Los Angeles that killed three deputies, police said.
The search warrant was being served in the area of Bay and Lincoln Avenue. Evacuations were conducted for the complex and the surrounding area, according to LASD Deputy Miguel Meza.
Two hand grenades were recovered Thursday after a renter at the property reported finding them inside a storage unit to Santa Monica police. The LASD bomb squad removed two hand grenades, determined to be inert, from the complex, according to Santa Monica police.
“Homicide detectives are in the process of obtaining a search warrant for the location and out of the abundance of caution the LAPD Bomb Squad, ATF and FBI will search the location for any potential explosive materials,” said Nicole Nishida with LASD. “At this time, it is not determined if the devices found yesterday have any correlation to today’s critical incident.”
Neighbors were asked to evacuate by LASD as the investigation continues.
“Bomb squad came and recovered with very little fanfare, let us know we need to evacuate. Everybody was asked to leave,” said Michael Kellman, a Santa Monica neighbor.
Santa Monica PD is assisting the Sheriff’s Department in this incident and have evacuated the residents in the complex. They are in the process of locating a shelter for displaced residents.
Three deputies were killed after an explosion was reported early Friday at an LA County Sheriff’s Department training facility in East LA.
The explosion happened at the Biscailuz Center Training Academy in the 1000 block of North Eastern Avenue around 7:30 a.m.
The three deputies killed in the East LA explosion were part of the Explosives Unit within the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, an elite team within the largest sheriff’s department in the U.S. The team is often responsible for dealing with explosive devices as well as investigating any violations of state or federal law.