Prosecutors have charged a 19-year-old man with murder after allegedly shooting four people at a Lancaster home and then setting it on fire to cover his tracks.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday that Miguel Diego Sandoval has been charged with fatally shooting Edwin Garcia, 24. Matthew Montebello, 23 years old. Brothers Jambi Makindan, 24, and Christine Akaaku, 29, in the early morning hours of November 16th. It is suspected that he entered the house while his roommate was sleeping and shot him to death around 1:30 a.m.
Prosecutors said Sandoval then set the house on fire to cover up his crime. Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies rescued Montebello from the burning home, but he later died from his injuries at a hospital. Garcia, Makindan and Akaaku all died at the scene. Another victim, identified as a teenager, who was in the home was not injured.
Prosecutors charged Sandoval with four counts of murder, one count of felony first-degree burglary and one count of felony arson of a residential structure or property. Authorities also say Sandoval committed multiple murders by intentionally killing his victims, including by ambushing them, according to the charges.
Sandoval is scheduled to appear in court on January 27 for arraignment. He is being held without bail and could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted as charged.
Investigators have not released a motive for the killing, but relatives of the victims told news station KTLA that Sandoval was the ex-lover of one of the roommates.
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