Police Identify 4 Victims, Including Teen Girl, In Execution-Style Quadruple Homicide In Southwest Philly Basement
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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Police have released the identities of the four victims who were shot and killed execution-style in a Southwest Philadelphia basement last week. Two men and two women were found in the basement of the home on the 5100 block of Malcolm Street with one gunshot wound each to the head on Nov. 19.
The victims have been identified as 17-year-old Yaleah Hall, 20-year-old Tiyaniah Rakele Hopkins, 28-year-old Akeen Mattox, and 31-year-old William Taylor. Mattox and Taylor were brothers, while Yaleah and Hopkins were sisters. They were all pronounced dead at the scene.
Family members say Mattox was a father of three.
"Akeen was special, he was a special person," said Naseen Martin. "He was strong, and to me and to his family, he was so much more than just a relative or a brother, he was just a special person."
"I got to look at his kids in their eyes and explain to them why their dad isn't here, why somebody felt there was a need to take his life," Keshia Wilson, Mattox's sister.
Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross says the bodies were discovered when officers were conducting a wellness check shortly after noon. A relative called police after not hearing from one of the victims.
"All four of these individuals were executed," said Ross, adding that this was an "absolutely evil thing to do."
Ross said a neighbor heard three or four bangs around 10 p.m. on Sunday, but because the home is under renovation, neighbors who heard the sound thought nothing of it. It's now likely those bangs were gunfire.
No arrests have yet been made and there is also no motive for the shooting.
Now the family is pleading for anyone with information to just come forward.
"If anybody knows anything to just come forward. You can call and make an anonymous tip it's not ratting when it's somebody that you care about," said Wilson.
