A dispute between homeless people living together in an abandoned office building led one of them to set a fire that killed five others, authorities alleged Tuesday.
Just one man was declared dead during the fire on Monday night, but two more men and two women were found dead in the rubble by a search team with dogs on Tuesday afternoon, city fire officials said.
The delay came because the badly damaged building was too unstable to search immediately, fire Chief Ralph Terrazas said. The bodies were found under a significant amount of debris.
Before the new deaths were discovered, a man who also had been living there was arrested on suspicion of murder for starting the fire, said Billy Hayes, commanding officer of the LAPD's Robbery-Homicide division.
The man, Johnny Sanchez, 21, had been in a dispute with the others, Hayes said.
"His intent was to light the fire with the hopes of killing these individuals, or at least one individual," Hayes said.
Hayes said police will seek additional charges now that the death toll has grown.
The four bodies, found on the upper floor, were being removed with a fire ladder truck.