Three men found executed at a California cemetery. ‘That was a message,’ cops say

Authorities say three men found dead Monday in a Southern California cemetery were killed in an “assassination or execution,” KESQ reported.

Riverside County authorities declined to say how the men died and are still investigating when and why they were slain, KTLA reported. They are believed to have been killed at the cemetery in Perris.

“I mean, three people killed at the same time, that was a message for something, whether it was for someone else, or whether it was to them,” said Sheriff Chad Bianco, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The three men, identified as Jaime Covarrubias Espindola, 50, Jose Maria Aguilar-Espejel, 38, and Rodrigo Aguilar-Espejel, 28, were found dead at the grave of a man reportedly killed in Mexico in a drug cartel assassination, KCAL reported.

All three men are from Perris, The San Bernardino Sun reported. Their connections to each other and the man slain in Mexico are still unclear.

Bianco said that while investigators are still trying to find a motive for the slayings, they are not related to other killings in the region, KESQ reported.

“We do not have a serial killer on the loose,” he said, according to The San Bernardino Sun.

But some residents are still uneasy, KCAL reported.

“We have every reason to be concerned, because we live here,” said Kerry Willingham, according to the station. “I don’t want to be caught up in anything like that.”