Two Convicted for Role in Visalia Triple Slaying

Two men were convicted of murder in the 2020 deaths of three other men during a nighttime drug robbery at a Visalia high school parking lot.

Today TCDA prosecutors secured guilty verdicts against Cesar Lopez and Mark Aceves, both age 24, in a court trial in Department 6 of the Tulare County Superior Court. Judge Melinda Reed handed down her verdict after the conclusion of a two-week trial.

Judge Reed found Lopez and Aceves guilty of three counts of murder with special allegations that the crime involved a firearm, that there were multiple murders, and the crime was committed during a robbery.

Before midnight on May 5, 2020, in the parking lot of Golden West High School in Visalia, three young men were shot and killed in a drug robbery. After a significant investigation by local and state law enforcement, Lopez, Aceves, and Abraham Molina, age 24, were arrested for the crime in 2021. It is alleged that Molina carried out the shootings.

The court found that both Aceves and Lopez acted as major participants in an attempted robbery by conspiring to commit a robbery knowing that a firearm would be used, selecting a dark and secluded location without witnesses to commit the robbery, planning for the use of a getaway vehicle, attempting to solicit a getaway driver (who declined to participate), not attempting to stop the use of the firearm or render aid to the victims following the attempted robbery, and later conspiring to cover up the crime by destroying evidence.

Molina was severed from the case in early 2026. He is scheduled for his own trial in January 2027.

Both men face life in prison without the possibility of parole at sentencing on June 3, 2026.

Media inquiries can be directed to the Office of the District Attorney, County of Tulare Chief Deputy District Attorney Dave Alavezos (559) 636-5494