Santa Monica Grenade Explosion: Widow Sues City Over Deputies' Deaths

The widow of deputy William Osborn, killed in a July 2025 grenade blast, is suing Santa Monica for failing to warn about a live explosive device.

Widow Files Suit Against Santa Monica After Grenade Kills Three Deputies

The widow of a Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputy killed in a grenade explosion last year is suing the city of Santa Monica, alleging officials misrepresented a military-style explosive as safe before it detonated. NY Post Metro reports that Shannon Rincon filed the complaint on September 11, naming Santa Monica as responsible for the death of her husband and two fellow law enforcement officers.

Deputy William Osborn, 58, died alongside detectives Joshua Kelley-Eklund, 41, and Victor Lemus, 40, on July 18, 2025, when a grenade detonated at a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department facility in East Los Angeles. The three men were assigned to the LASD Special Enforcement Bureau's Arson Explosives Detail and were inspecting the device when it went off. The blast shattered windows and triggered car alarms as far as 100 feet from the site. The medical examiner listed Osborn's cause of death as multiple blast injuries.

The grenade had been retrieved the previous day from an apartment complex on Bay Street in Santa Monica at the request of the Santa Monica Police Department, according to the lawsuit. Rincon alleges that city personnel described the device as "inactive, inert, and safe to transport despite lacking a sufficient factual basis." The suit states that had Santa Monica personnel conducted a reasonable investigation, "the devices would have been treated as live and unstable; and the fatal explosion would have been avoided." Rincon is seeking unspecified economic damages and has requested a jury trial.

The case is one of two civil actions stemming from the explosion. Earlier this year, Nancy Lemus, widow of Deputy Victor Lemus, filed a separate lawsuit on behalf of herself and the couple's two young daughters. That complaint names Los Angeles County, the LA County Sheriff's Department, Sheriff Robert Luna, Commander Thomas Giandomenico, and others as defendants.

The Lemus lawsuit alleges her husband was not properly trained to handle live explosive devices. It also includes a separate allegation against Giandomenico, claiming he photographed Lemus' remains with his personal cellphone after the blast and later shared those images for non-investigative purposes. According to the filing, Sheriff Luna was aware of the photographs but did not confiscate the cellphone. Luna subsequently spoke at Lemus' funeral, the last of the three victims to be laid to rest.

Following the explosion, first responders, city officials, and fellow officers lined the route as the bodies were transported from the facility to the LA County Medical Examiner's office. The three deputies collectively had 74 years of service with the department and are survived by 16 children. The LASD and the city of Santa Monica were contacted for comment but had not responded at the time of publication.

Source: NY Post Metro