A man suspected of murdering his mother and sister killed himself following an armed standoff inside a SEPTA bus that lasted nearly 12 hours Monday.
Firefighters responding to a blaze at around 3:45 a.m. inside a home on the 8200 block of Williams Avenue in the Cedarbrook section of Northwest Philadelphia found two adult women who had been shot in the head, authorities said.
Gabrielle Turner, 30, was discovered in the living room, and her mother, 78-year-old Sadie Turner, was found in an upstairs bedroom, police said Tuesday. Both women died a short time later at Einstein Medical Center, according to law enforcement officials.
Their alleged killer, 26-year-old Lonnie Turner, evidently boarded a Route 18 bus and rode to the eastern end of the line, near Oxford Avenue and Loney Street in Fox Chase. Other riders and the driver were able to get off the vehicle before the barricade began, just after 5:45 a.m.
When officers arrived, Turner threatened to kill himself, and law enforcement conducted hours of negotiations.
Heavily armed Philadelphia and SEPTA Transit police officers were spotted stationed outside the John Loudenslager American Legion Post. A major neighborhood intersection, where Oxford, Rhawn Street and Pine Street converge, was blocked off for much of the day, and adjacent residential roads were also closed to traffic.
At around 5 p.m., SWAT officers saw Turner shoot himself in the chest, according to the PPD. He was rushed to Jefferson Abington Hospital and died of his injuries.
Police said detectives are continuing to investigate the circumstances and sequence of events at both locations, which are about 6 miles apart.
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