The widow of an LA County sheriff’s deputy who was killed in a bombing last year sued the department this week, saying a lack of proper training and a disregard for safety procedures led to the incident, which also killed two other deputies.
The lawsuit, filed Monday in L.A. Superior County by Nancy Lemus, claims her husband, Victor Lemus, died in an experiment gone wrong and is seeking damages for emotional distress and lost wages.
Last summer’s explosion was the Sheriff’s Department’s deadliest incident in 150 years, prompting a criminal investigation and more than $350,000 in fines from the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
In addition to Victor Lemus, 40, deputies Joshua Kelley-Eklund and William Osborn died in the July 2025 explosion.
When asked to respond to the case, the spokesperson for the Sheriff’s Department did not directly respond to these allegations, but said that the investigation into the incident is still open and that the department is “using many methods to strengthen operational security,” including establishing policies and introducing new equipment.
In her lawsuit, Nancy Lemus alleges that the day before the explosion, Kelley-Eklund, 41, and Osborn, 58, answered a call to the Santa Monica Police Department after officers found explosives in the apartment’s garage.
Deputies responded to the scene in work trucks rather than a bomb squad car and Osborn improperly tested the bomb and falsely reported it had gone off, according to the complaint.
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.
The next day, one of the deputies took the bomb to the department’s Biscailuz Regional Training Center, where fireworks are not allowed, the lawsuit said. Deputies then used it in training with Victor Lemus, who had no formal bomb squad training and was “relying on [Kelley-Eklund] and Osborn,” according to the lawsuit.
Nancy Lemus, who is also a sheriff’s deputy, in this case alleged that Kelley-Eklund or Osborn pulled the trigger on the bomb, killing all three.
“This explosion left the plaintiff, Nancy Lemus, who is a widow, and her children, Victoria and Emily, fatherless,” said the complaint.
The case of Nancy Lemus also contains allegations related to a previous scandal in which sheriff’s employees were accused of passing graphic images after the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant six years ago. A lawsuit filed by Bryant’s family resulted in the department issuing a multi-million dollar settlement.
After the 2025 explosion, Nancy Lemus accused Sheriff Cmdr in her case. Thomas Giandomenico took unauthorized and illegal photographs of her husband’s body. The images “violate the respect owed to the dead and the privacy of the bereaved by collecting trophies in the form of obituaries,” Lemus said in the lawsuit, saying the images could end up being circulated online.
The Times reported in March that the department was conducting an internal investigation to determine whether photos of the July 2025 explosion were improperly shared.
The Times previously reported that Giandomenico had been suspended pending an investigation. He could not be reached for comment on Saturday.
The lawsuit alleges that Sheriff Robert Luna failed to seize Giandomenico’s phone after learning about the photos and tried to hide the existence of the photos from Nancy Lemus.
“The failure to provide adequate training, supervision, and discipline regarding the taking of such photographs is a complete dereliction of duty, and is directly attributable to Sheriff Luna and other members of his staff,” the complaint states.
Times Staff Writers Richard Winton and Salvador Hernandez contributed to this report.
