Police Saturday continued their investigation into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of three people found murdered inside a burning home in Riverside, authorities said.
“This whole thing is complicated and it’s going to take a lot to unravel,” said Officer Ryan Railsback of the Riverside Police Department. “It’s still unraveling and it’s going to take a bit of time.”
Officers were dispatched shortly after 10:30 a.m. Friday regarding a call of some type of disturbance regarding a man and woman near a home at 11261 Price Court, Railsback said.
“While officers were on their way, we got other calls of smoke and fire being seen,” he said, adding it took firefighters “a few minutes to put the fire out.”
Firefighters and paramedics were dispatched shortly after 11 a.m. Friday to the 11200 block of Price Court, the City of Riverside Fire Department reported.
Firefighters found three people — a man and two women – dead inside the home, Railsback said.
“It appears the reason why we went out to the call (the man and woman) may have left in a vehicle,” he said.
Detectives, in conducting their investigation, discovered that the two people they sought were involved in a “lethal” deputy-involved shooting in San Bernardino County, he said.
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman Gloria Huerta told the Press-Enterprise that deputies were involved in a “lethal force encounter Friday in Needles.”
“We believe our investigation is related to theirs,” said Railsback, adding the woman involved in the original call of disturbance is in “law enforcement custody. We are not actively looking for any suspects now.”
The Riverside Police Department urged anyone with information regarding the fire and three deaths to call 951-351-6050.