In October 2019, a West Philadelphia home on Walton Avenue was the scene of a fourfold homicide. Police conducting a welfare check after Janet Woodson-Holmes, 51, and her husband Leslie Holmes, 56, did not show up for work entered the house through a second-floor window and found Janet, Leslie, and two of Janet’s sons dead from shotgun wounds to the head at point-blank range.

Eighteen-year-old Sy-eed Woodson and seven-year-old Leslie Woodson-Holmes were among the victims. The shotgun used, a Mossberg Maverick 88 pump-action, had reportedly been purchased by Janet’s eldest son the day before the killings. Officers found 29-year-old Maurice Louis inside the home; he surrendered, was intoxicated, and later confessed to killing his mother, stepfather, and two half-brothers. Family members said Louis had a history of mental illness, including schizophrenia, and had been depressed; relatives had been trying to get him help.

Maurice Louis was arrested and charged with four counts of criminal homicide. What details about motive or the sequence of events remain unclear to readers with information about the family or the case is welcome.