Overview
- In March 2026, Victor Lemus’s widow filed a government claim that says the department failed to give him formal explosives training before the July 2025 blast.
- The claim alleges two colleagues misread an older X-ray as showing a grenade was inert, transported the devices in personal work trucks, and brought one to a training campus where live explosives are barred.
- The filing says the deputies used what they believed was an inert grenade for a demonstration and that one of them pulled the pin, which led to the explosion that killed Lemus, Joshua Kelley-Eklund, and William Osborn.
- LASD confirmed an internal criminal investigation into possible improper sharing of graphic blast photos, and a commander assigned to special operations was relieved of duty last fall in connection with that probe.
- Investigations continue under the ATF into the cause and the whereabouts of a second seized grenade that remains missing, as LASD consults the LAPD, FBI, and ATF on policy updates; NBC Los Angeles reports sources say elements of the widow’s account align with ATF findings.