A 64-year-old man who was arrested in the deaths of three people whose bodies were found after a fire at a Temple City home was charged Wednesday with three counts of murder.
Xuanhan Zhang is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse on the murder charges, along with two counts of attempted murder involving two other people who were injured.
The murder charges include the special circumstance allegations of multiple murders, murder while lying in wait and murder during the commission of an arson, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Zhang is accused of intentionally starting a fire at the home late Sunday afternoon, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Three people were found dead inside the home and two others were injured, authorities said.
The fire was reported at about 4:50 p.m. Sunday in the 6000 block of Sultana Avenue, just east of Rosemead Boulevard, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s Fred Fielding. The fire was knocked down in half an hour.
The identities of the three victims — two men and one woman — have not been released.
Firefighters treated two other people and took them to hospitals in critical condition, Fielding said. No other homes were affected by the fire, he said.
Shortly before 8 p.m. Sunday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced that the deaths were being investigated as possible homicides.
Sheriff’s Lt. Hugo Reynaga told reporters at the scene Sunday that a roommate of the deceased victims approached deputies at the scene and was then detained as a person of interest. He was later identified as Zhang.
Zhang has remained behind bars since his arrest at 1 a.m. Monday, according to jail records.
A judge on Wednesday ordered him held without bail.
Zhang could face a maximum of life in prison without the possibility of parole if he is convicted as charged, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
“Our thoughts are with the victims’ loved ones who are now grappling with this profound loss. No words can express the sorrow felt in our community over this senseless act,” District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement. “Our Arson and Explosives Unit prosecutors will work diligently to hold the offender accountable for his actions.”