A Los Angeles County Sheriff’s family died after a moving shooting range erupting in the flames and he was prosecuted for the wrong death claiming that his failure to properly clean the trailer resulted in dangerous conditions that resulted in the explosion.
Attorneys for the Alfredo “Freddy” Flores family, a 22-year veteran of the department, said Monday that the sheriff’s department failed to comply with the orders of state regulators to inspect and clean the trailer, posing an “unreasonable danger” condition for the agent when it appeared for an authorized Fire-Wire Skills test on October 2023.
“This should never happen,” said John Carpenter, the attorney representing the Flores family, to reporters at a press conference after filing a lawsuit in the Los Angeles County Superior Court on Monday. “This is done with intentional indifference in the county and must be stopped.”
The family demanded that the sheriff be banned from using mobile shooting range and are seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
He said Flores should have been “in his comfort zone” in a training facility that parked near the Castaic prison complex. The lawsuit alleges that the accumulation of unburned gunpowder residues, lead and other combustible substances resulted in a fatal explosion. Flores suffered severe burns and was hospitalized for six months until his death.
Flores's widow, Margarita Gonzales Flores, sometimes sits nearby, sometimes fighting tears. In a prepared statement, she and their four children, from ages 9 to 25, said the loss left a huge gap in their lives.
“With this lawsuit, we seek answers to the problems and accountability of the tragic events of our lives,” the statement said. “We also want to make sure that no other representatives have died in this way because no family has to go through the disasters our families have to face and continue to face every day.”
Sheriff's department officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the Flore family's claim. They have not answered questions about whether the deputies are still training or testing within the range of mobile shooting and what steps have been taken to ensure their safety.
The family’s lawsuit also referred to the mobile range manufacturer as the defendant, accusing the facility of poorly designed. Inveris Training Solutions did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Previous reports said the California Department of Occupational Safety and Health have cited the sheriff’s violations, which date back to 2021, to skip inspections, neglect maintenance and fail to keep appropriate records.
Carpenter said the sheriff’s department has long known about the dangers of moving ranges that have burned at least three times in the past.
In 2016, a contractor who parked a trailer at the department’s Tactics and Survival Training Center sparked a fire while using a metal grinder. Three years later, a mobile trailer caught fire during training exercises, when a fire that swallowed the trailer was started using a non-explosive device used to simulate stun grenades. All delegates escaped from injury.
Also in 2019, a trailer parked near the Castaic Prison Complex caught fire. Officials said the reason was the contractor with power tools.
“We hope they stop exposing our representatives and law enforcement to this deadly threat,” Carpenter said. The lawsuit also claims inmates in the Los Angeles County jail were allowed to clean and help maintain the trailer.
Carpenter said that despite the sheriff’s department’s pledge to understand the bottom of what happened in the Flores case, a year and a half have passed and the deputy’s family has not been informed of the findings.
“We still have no guarantee that it won't happen again,” he said.
Since the 1980s, the sheriff’s department has used mobile shooting range so that deputies can easily test their gun skills, while agents can avoid paying them to spend a day at a fixed-site shooting range.
Carpenter criticized the sheriff's department for reliance on moving range to save costs.
“It's done to save money,” he said. “It's not worth it. It's not even close.”
The 50 to 53 feet moving structure has several shooting lanes supervised by the range master. The inner wall is covered with soundproof foam, and thick rubber or metal plates (called bullet traps) are located behind the target.
Like other indoor ranges, shooting trailers need to be cleaned regularly to prevent dangerous buildup of lead and gunpowder.
