LOS ANGELES — A 21-year-old man has pleaded guilty to murdering four people inside a Lancaster home and setting the residence on fire in 2024. Prosecutors said the crimes were motivated by anger over the end of a romantic relationship.

Miguel Diego Sandoval is expected to receive a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman described the killings as a calculated act of violence that took the lives of four innocent people and caused irreparable pain to their families. He said Sandoval’s guilty plea will ensure that he remains in prison for life.

Sandoval pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and admitted the special-circumstance allegations of multiple murders and murder by means of lying in wait.

He also pleaded guilty to one felony count each of attempted murder, first-degree residential burglary and arson of an inhabited structure or property; three felony counts of animal cruelty; and two counts of child abuse under circumstances likely to cause great bodily injury or death.

Sandoval is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 17 in Department 105 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center. He is expected to receive life in prison without the possibility of parole.

According to prosecutors, Sandoval waited outside a home on North Tabler Avenue in Lancaster on Nov. 16, 2024, until the occupants had gone to bed. He then entered the residence and fatally shot four people: Janvi Maquindang, 21; Christine Aca-ac, 25; Edwin Garcia, 24; and Matthew Montebello, 21.

After the shootings, Sandoval set the home on fire and fled. A 16-year-old victim called 911 from inside the burning residence and was rescued from a locked bedroom by responding Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies.

Prosecutors said Sandoval committed the crimes in retaliation after the end of a relationship involving Aca-ac and Maquindang’s brother.

Case 25CJCF02868 is being prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bott of the Major Crimes Division. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department investigated the case.