LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A 64-year-old man who was arrested in connection with 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 was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse on the murder charges, along with two counts of attempted murder, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
The fire was reported 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 have not been released.
Firefighters treated two additional patients 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 on 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.