MONTEBELLO, CA — Three people, including a child, were killed in a “suspicious” early morning house fire that largely destroyed a Montebello home Thursday — a blaze that investigators believe was sparked in a domestic- violence dispute.

The fire erupted around 4:30 a.m. at a home in the 100 block of South Fifth Street, authorities said. Two people — a man and a woman — were taken to a hospital in critical condition, and crews found a third person dead inside the home, described only as a minor.

The man and woman later died at the hospital, Montebello Police Chief Luis Lopez said.

“At this time, we believe that the male involved in this case is the suspect,” Lopez told reporters Thursday afternoon. “This does appear to be a domestic violence related incident.”

He said he could not confirm the identities of any of the people who died, but he said the child appeared to be related to one of the deceased adults, but investigators were still awaiting confirmation.

Neighbors told reporters at the scene three people lived in the home, two adults and one child, but Lopez said he could not confirm if all three victims were residents of the burned residence.

Lopez said earlier that when officers arrived at the scene, they encountered an injured man in an agitated state, running from the home and yelling. He was one of the victims taken to a hospital in critical condition.

He said the fire itself was “of suspicious origins,” and arson investigators were working to identify the origin of the blaze.

He also said homicide detectives will “work chronologically backward to find out what happened before this fire between the persons involved to see if there’s a pinpoint in time to determine what actually was the catalyst for this incident.”

He called the fire and deaths “a tragedy.”

“Montebello is a very close-knit community,” he said. “Any time there’s any loss of life it’s tragic. When it involves domestic violence it’s really tragic because it involves a family unit. When you have minors involved, as parents, as folks that have kids, it hurts more. And this neighborhood is grieving. This block will be grieving for a long time. They’re neighbors, they’re friends, they’re people that they grew up with. So this is far beyond just today. It will affect a lot of people for a long time.”

City News Service