Suspicious device investigation in Marina del Rey is tied to deadly LASD explosion, department says

MARINA DEL REY, Calif. (KABC) -- A suspicious device investigation in Marina del Rey is connected to the explosion that killed three detectives last week, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department confirmed.

AIR7 flew over the active search in the 4200 block of Via Marina on Tuesday evening. The Arson and Explosives Division of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department was seen searching a group of storage units in an alleyway behind the Shores apartment complex.

Video showed a high-tech bomb robot being used at the scene. Bomb squad technicians rigged up ropes on a pulley system to open a garage door. Explosive-smelling K-9s then inspected the unit.

"We're like, 'Woah, bomb squad's here. This is not just a normal thing,'" said resident Josh Calvin. "It's an experience for sure, something you don't want to see. You see it in movies and TV, but when you see that thing moving in and the K-9 dogs in your back yard, it's mind-blowing."

Crews were reportedly inspecting a storage unit in connection with an individual who is believed to collect and store explosives.

The alleyway remained closed on Tuesday night, though the surrounding apartment buildings were open. It's unclear what, if anything, was found.

"People down there with robots, going into garages and using ropes to open doors, you definitely know that something's off," said Dave Preston, whose apartment balcony is right over the garage that was being inspected.

LASD issued the following statement:

"Today at approximately 3:45 p.m., Sheriff's homicide investigators, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Los Angeles Police Department, served a search warrant at the 4200 Block of Via Marina, in Marina Del Rey. Investigators are continuing to follow up on additional leads and evidence to determine the origins of the devices located on Thursday in Santa Monica. No further information will be available."

On Monday, the sheriff's department said a search warrant was executed in the 13900 Block of Marquesas Way in Marina del Rey at a boat docked in the harbor -- also in connection with the case. The department said investigators are following "all leads and evidence to determine the origins of the devices."

"I saw about 50 cop cars, cops coming out with bulletproof-looking vests on and continuing to come down, and all kind of hovering over on the marina, right by the water," said Rachel McCord, a Marina Del Rey resident.

The device that exploded last week at a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department facility in East L.A. and killed three detectives was a grenade, ABC News sources confirmed on Monday.

Agents and detectives had investigated a Santa Monica apartment complex in connection with Friday's explosion, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said.

According to ABC News sources, the grenades were allegedly left by a previous tenant of the Santa Monica complex. The bomb squad team X-rayed the grenades, which were believed to have been inert, before the detectives moved them back to the facility, where they exploded Friday.

The HOA president told a resident that a former tenant who had been in the military may have left the grenades behind, and a current resident discovered them in her storage locker last Thursday.

Over the weekend, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives' (ATF) National Response Team took over the investigation.

The three men killed were identified as detectives Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus, and William Osborn. They were described as elite members of the Special Enforcement Bureau's Arson Explosives Detail, with a collective 74 years of service. Between them, the three men leave behind 16 children.