Two men convicted in the 2020 killings of three young men during a drug robbery at a Visalia high school parking lot were sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, prosecutors said.

Tulare County Superior Court Judge Melinda Reed sentenced Cesar Lopez and Mark Aceves, both 24, to three consecutive terms of life without parole for the May 2020 slayings at Golden West High School.

The victims were shot and killed shortly before midnight on May 5, 2020, in the school’s parking lot, according to the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office.

Following a lengthy investigation by local and state law enforcement agencies, Lopez, Aceves, and Abraham Molina, 24, were arrested in early 2022. Prosecutors allege Molina was the gunman who carried out the shootings.

After a two-week bench trial that concluded May 12, Reed found Lopez and Aceves guilty of three counts of murder. The court also found true special-circumstance allegations that the killings involved the use of a firearm, multiple murders, and occurred during the commission of a robbery.

According to prosecutors, Reed determined that Lopez and Aceves were major participants in the attempted robbery. The court found they conspired to commit the robbery knowing a firearm would be used, selected a dark and secluded location for the crime, planned for a getaway vehicle, and attempted to recruit a getaway driver, who ultimately declined to participate.

The judge also found that neither man attempted to stop the shootings or aid the victims afterward and later conspired to destroy evidence in an effort to conceal the crime, prosecutors said.

Molina’s case was separated from that of Lopez and Aceves earlier this year. He is scheduled to stand trial in January 2027.

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