{"id":10379,"date":"2026-07-19T08:07:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T03:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=10379"},"modified":"2026-07-19T08:07:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T03:07:19","slug":"widow-of-l-a-county-deputy-killed-in-grenade-blast-files-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=10379","title":{"rendered":"Widow of L.A. County deputy killed in grenade blast files lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/0fdfcdc\/2147483647\/strip\/false\/crop\/5472x3648+0+0\/resize\/1500x1000!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F9f%2Fce%2F96cc2e294a7b99e1346b97560d4f%2F1515218-me-explosion-sheriff-training-center-memorial-jey-07.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div data-element=\"story-body\" data-subscriber-content=\"\">\n<p>The widow of an L.A. County sheriff\u2019s deputy killed in a grenade blast last year sued the department this week, alleging a lack of proper training and ignored safety protocols led to the incident, which also caused the deaths of two other deputies.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit, filed Monday in L.A. County Superior County by Nancy Lemus, alleges her husband, Victor Lemus, died in a training exercise gone wrong and seeks damages for emotional distress and loss of income.<\/p>\n<p>The blast last summer was the deadliest incident for the Sheriff\u2019s Department in 150 years, triggering <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2026-05-05\/grenade-kills-3-la-sheriffs-detectives-d-a-considers-charges\">criminal investigations<\/a> and more than $350,000 in <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2026-04-01\/grenade-deaths-la-deputies-safety-violations\">fines<\/a> from the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Victor Lemus, 40, deputies Joshua Kelley-Eklund and William Osborn died in the July 2025 explosion.<\/p>\n<p>Asked to respond to the lawsuit, a Sheriff\u2019s Department spokesperson did not directly address the allegations, but said investigations into the incident remain open and that the department \u201cis implementing several measures to further strengthen operational safety,\u201d including standardizing policies and introducing new equipment. <\/p>\n<p>In her lawsuit, Nancy Lemus alleged that on the day prior to the blast, Kelley-Eklund, 41, and Osborn, 58, <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2025-07-19\/santa-monica-apartment-is-focus-of-probe-into-explosion-that-killed-3-l-a-deputies\">responded to a call from the Santa Monica Police Department<\/a> after officers found explosive devices in the garage of an apartment complex. <\/p>\n<p>The deputies responded to the scene in personal work trucks rather than the department\u2019s bomb truck and Osborn improperly examined the grenade and falsely reported it inert, according to the complaint. <\/p>\n<p>Either Osborn or Kelley-Eklund then took the ordnance home and left it in their truck overnight, or brought it into their house, the lawsuit alleges.<\/p>\n<p>The next day, one of the deputies took the grenade to the department\u2019s Biscailuz Regional Training Center, where live explosive devices are prohibited, the lawsuit said. The deputies then used it in a training exercise with Victor Lemus, who lacked formal bomb squad training and \u201cwas reliant on the expertise of [Kelley-Eklund] and Osborn,\u201d according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>Nancy Lemus, who is also a sheriff\u2019s deputy, alleged in the lawsuit that either Kelley-Eklund or Osborn pulled the pin of the grenade, killing all three.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe explosion made Plaintiff Nancy Lemus a widow and her children, Victoria and Emily, fatherless,\u201d the complaint says. <\/p>\n<p>Nancy Lemus\u2019 lawsuit also contains allegations that echo a previous scandal in which sheriff\u2019s personnel were accused of passing around graphic images from the aftermath of the helicopter crash that killed retired Lakers star Kobe Bryant six years ago. A lawsuit filed by Bryant\u2019s family resulted in a multimillion-dollar verdict against the department.<\/p>\n<p>In the immediate aftermath of the 2025 blast, Nancy Lemus alleged in her lawsuit that Sheriff Cmdr. Thomas Giandomenico took unauthorized and unofficial photos of her husband\u2019s body. The photos \u201cviolated the respect owed to the dead and the privacy of the bereaved by collecting trophies in the form of death images,\u201d Lemus claimed in the lawsuit, alleging that the pictures could eventually circulate online.<\/p>\n<p>The Times <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2026-03-26\/l-a-sheriff-investigates-photos-deputies-killed-grenade-blast\">reported<\/a> in March that the department was conducting an internal investigation into whether graphic crime scene photos of the July 2025 blast were improperly shared. <\/p>\n<p>The Times previously reported that Giandomenico had been relieved from duty during the investigation. A Sheriff\u2019s Department spokesman said Saturday that the commander is \u201ccurrently active, but on department-approved leave.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Giandomenico could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuit alleges that Sheriff Robert Luna failed to confiscate Giandomenico\u2019s phone after learning of the photos and tried to conceal from Nancy Lemus that the images existed. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe failure to adequately train, supervise, and discipline personnel regarding the taking of such photographs is a complete dereliction of duty, and can be directly attributed to Sheriff Luna and other members of his command staff,\u201d the complaint said.<\/p>\n<p><i>Times staff writers Richard Winton and Salvador Hernandez contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The widow of an L.A. County sheriff\u2019s deputy killed in a grenade blast last year sued the department this week, alleging a lack of proper training and ignored safety protocols led to the incident, which also caused the deaths of two other deputies. The lawsuit, filed Monday in L.A. County Superior County by Nancy Lemus,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/254cc13\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/5472x2873+0+388\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F9f%2Fce%2F96cc2e294a7b99e1346b97560d4f%2F1515218-me-explosion-sheriff-training-center-memorial-jey-07.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}