Bizarre: Four L.A. Sheriff’s Department Employees Dead from Suicide In 24-hour Span

Four members of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department (LASD) in California all died from suicide within a 24-hour span, leaving many baffled by the odd coincidence.

Three of the people who took their lives were active members of the department, while another was retired.

Fox News reports:

The deaths include one retired LASD member and three current members over a 24-hour period, according to KTLA. The first three victims were discovered on Monday, with the first victim being found dead at around 10:30 a.m. in Valencia; a second death was discovered at 12:53 p.m. in Lancaster; and a third death was reported at 5:40 p.m. in Stevenson Ranch. Detectives responded to the fourth victim Tuesday at around 7:30 a.m. in the city of Pomona, KTLA reported.  

Reports claim the deaths appear to have been unrelated and are being investigated as suicides, while the department’s Homicide Bureau also investigates.

The Los Angeles Times notes via anonymous sources that “the third and fourth deaths were discovered as word of the earlier deaths were spreading through the agency.”

While some news agencies opted not to publish names of the deceased victims, the LA Times highlighted two of the employees as former chief department spokesperson Cmdr. Darren Harris and retired sergeant Greg Hovland.

Among them was Cmdr. Darren Harris, who became a recognizable figure on TV news over a 25-year career during which he served as a chief department spokesperson. Harris was found dead in his home in Santa Clarita on Monday morning, according to multiple sources. He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said the sources, who agreed to speak with The Times on the condition of anonymity because his death hasn’t been publicly acknowledged.

Harris rose steadily through department ranks, with several stopovers in media relations, along with stints in which he oversaw the Transit Services Bureau and ran the Santa Clarita station.

Sometime after noon Monday, authorities found the body of Greg Hovland, a sergeant who worked in the Antelope Valley before his retirement, at his Quartz Hill home, according to the sources. Another employee was found dead shortly after sunset at a residence in Stevenson Ranch. The fourth death was reported at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday, when sheriff’s homicide detectives responded to a hospital in Pomona where an employee died from suicide.