Five Killed in Abandoned CA Building Fire; Suspect in Custody

Authorities have yet to identify the bodies of five people who died in a Westlake blaze this week after a 21-year-old man allegedly set fire to a vacant office building following an argument. 

Each corpse was burned beyond recognition and dental records and full body scans will be required to identify them, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office said Wednesday. The victims are believed to have been among a group of homeless people who were living in the building.

Johnny Sanchez, 21, allegedly set the building on fire after getting into an argument with someone in the group, said LAPD Capt. Billy Hayes.

Sanchez, a transient, was hospitalized after the fire but has since been taken to jail on suspicion of murder. He’s being held on $2-million bail.

Records show Sanchez has been locked up several times over the last year. He was arrested by the LAPD on May 27 and released May 28, then again on June 8 and released the next day, according to L.A. County Sheriff’s Department jail records.

He lived in the 8th Street building with the five victims and others, officials said.

Initially, police believed that only one man had died in the fire. But on Tuesday, the bodies of two more men and two women were found buried under debris, bringing the death toll to five.

It took almost 150 firefighters more than two hours to defeat the blaze, which broke out about 7 p.m. Monday in the two-story office building, located a few blocks from MacArthur Park. Owners and employees at nearby businesses said the building – which once housed medical offices and a church – has sat vacant since it was sold last year.

The deaths come as Los Angeles continues to look for ways to help the city’s growing homeless population. City leaders have been putting together a plan designed to significantly increase the amount of housing available for homeless residents.

It was not immediately clear how many people had been living in the building at the time of the fire.

Firefighters rescued three people from the second story of the burning building, fire officials said. One was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Joseph Chang, who volunteers with an organization across the street, said he watched people climb down the fire ladders, scattering as soon as they reached the ground. Others, he said, had jumped out of the window before the fire trucks arrived.

”A column of fire was coming out of that corner,” Chang, 80, said in Korean, pointing to where some numbers on the outside of the building had melted away. “There was a swarm of people coming down the ladders.”

Chang said Monday’s fire was the third time a blaze had broken out at the building in recent months.

Maria Guerrero, who lives in an apartment next to the burned building, said she’d noticed unusual noises – loud music, screaming, people throwing bottles – coming from the space for several months.

Guerrero, 45, said her apartment manager notified police at least twice about people entering the building. “Nothing ever happened,” she said.

On Monday, Guerrero was preparing for her evening walk when she bumped into the apartment manager, who told her about the fire. She returned to her upstairs unit and looked out the window, watching as firefighters tried to save people from the burning building. She heard screams, she said, and within minutes, the firefighters pulled two people out.

Times staff writers Ruben Vives and Victoria Kim contributed to this report.