Officers with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department were using the premises on Magazine Road when shortly before 1 p.m. incident occurred, a department spokesman told reporters.
The incident occurred during a joint drill between bomb squads and SWAT teams, the spokesman said, and the explosion occurred in a small building on the FBI compound.
“I don’t know what they were doing when it happened,” Orange County Sheriff Frank Gonzalez said.
All units were wearing tactical gear at the time of the blast, he said, and medical teams were already on the scene as part of an exercise.
“We have medical plans in place and they were activated immediately because the safety of all our members is our top priority whenever we do an exercise like this,” the sheriff added.
Thirteen people are said to have been injured due to the noise caused by the explosion, which left victims with dizziness and earaches.
Two people suffered leg injuries and one of them required surgery. Another person suffered a back injury but will avoid surgery.
“It’s not a good feeling when anyone gets hurt, including our own employees,” F. Gonzalez said.
Fifteen victims were taken to nearby hospitals by Orange County Fire Paramedics.
The FBI is now leading the investigation.
“An incident that occurred today at the FBI Training Center in Irvine with law enforcement partners resulted in multiple injuries and is currently under investigation,” the FBI said in a statement.
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2024-04-10 22:31:14