2 Convicted in Triple Murder During Visalia Drug Robbery

Two men were convicted of murder in the 2020 shooting deaths of three men during what prosecutors described as a drug robbery in a Visalia high school parking lot, the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office said Tuesday.

Cesar Lopez and Mark Aceves, both 24, were found guilty in Tulare County Superior Court of three counts of murder along with special allegations involving the use of a firearm, multiple murders, and committing the killings during a robbery, prosecutors said.

The killings occurred shortly before midnight on May 5, 2020, in the parking lot of Golden West High School in Visalia, according to prosecutors. Three young men were shot and killed during what authorities described as a drug robbery.

Following an investigation by local and state law enforcement agencies, Lopez, Aceves, and Abraham Molina, also 24, were arrested in 2021. Prosecutors allege Molina carried out the shootings.

According to the district attorney’s office, the court found Lopez and Aceves were major participants in the attempted robbery. Prosecutors said the men conspired to commit the robbery knowing a firearm would be used, chose a dark and secluded location, planned for a getaway vehicle, and attempted to recruit a getaway driver who declined to participate.

The court also found the men failed to stop the use of the firearm or aid the victims after the attempted robbery and later conspired to destroy evidence, prosecutors said.

Molina’s case was separated from the others earlier this year. He is scheduled to stand trial in January 2027.

Lopez and Aceves are scheduled to be sentenced June 3 and both face life in prison without the possibility of parole.

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