Man charged with murder of family inside West Philadelphia home

WEST PHILADELPHIA - A man has been charged in the deaths of his mother, stepfather and his two younger brothers inside their West Philadelphia home.

MORE: Family found shot to death inside West Philadelphia home

Maurice Louis, 29, has been charged with four counts of murder in the incident.

Police responded to a home on the 5000 block of Walton Avenue around 12:40 p.m. Wednesday for a welfare check after one of the victims didn’t show up to work that morning. 

When no one answered the front door, police say officers entered the home through a second-floor window.

Once inside the property, police reportedly found Louis sitting naked in a chair drinking from a bottle of vodka with a rifle case at his side.

Police searched the home and made a gruesome discovery of four bodies. Family members identified the victims as Janet Woodson,52, Leslie Holmes, Sy-eed Woodson, 18, and Leslie Holmes Jr.,7.

Pictured: Lesile Holmes, Janet Woodson, Leslie Holmes Jr. and Sy-eed Woodson.

"When they got on the second floor, they observed a male made some sort of utterance of bodies in the house," Philadelphia Police Captain Sekou Kinebrew said.

Family members tell FOX 29 Louis has a history of mental illness.

FOX 29's Jennifer Joyce reports that Louis purchased a shotgun at Lock’s gun shop on Rowland Avenue Tuesday. The owner told FOX 29 off camera that she’s devastated by the horror that unfolded hours after the sale. She says Louis seemed perfectly normal and that he said he wanted a gun for home protection. He passed a federal background check quickly. She also says the shop had no way of knowing his alleged intentions.