Police identify neighbors involved in a double murder-suicide in West Oak Lane
Neighbors told police the West Oak Lane couple and the alleged shooter, who were neighbors, had disputes in the past.
Police on Thursday identified the three people killed Wednesday afternoon in West Oak Lane in what authorities say appears to be a murder-suicide sparked by a dispute among neighbors.
Clinton Quarles, 77, and Linda Beeks, 76, were found lying on the steps of their rowhouse on the 7300 block of East Walnut Lane with gunshot wounds just before 4 p.m., police said. A neighbor, 66-year-old Alvinn Berry, who police said shot the couple before turning the gun on himself, was found dead beside them from what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
The three were next-door neighbors, authorities said, and their homes shared front steps.
Quarles and Berry were pronounced dead at the scene, police said. Beeks was still alive when police arrived and was taken to Jefferson Einstein Philadelphia Hospital, where she later died from her injuries, police said.
Neighbors told police the couple had had disputes with Berry, and investigators believe an argument may have sparked the shooting.
Police said Wednesday that there were several spilled bags of groceries at the scene of the shooting and that they believe the couple had just come back from shopping when Berry shot them.
The scene of the gunfire was quiet Thursday morning as the gentle sound of light rain pierced the stillness of the tree-lined block. A resident said most of those who lived on the block had been there for decades, most of them retired empty-nesters.
A neighbor who asked not to be identified out of fear of her safety said she did not know Quarles or Berry very well, but recalled Beeks as a friendly woman who was a dedicated gardener.
The woman said she was startled to hear gunshots Wednesday afternoon, recalling a volley of eight or nine shots followed quickly by another round moments later.
After the gunfire subsided, she said, she went outside to join the gathering crowd of onlookers and saw someone being taken from the home on a stretcher.
The woman, who has lived on the block for 25 years, described the neighborhood as a tight-knit community in a relatively safe and quiet area of the city.
On Thursday morning, vestiges of the shooting remained. A car parked in front of the house that Quarles and Beeks shared was marred by what appeared to be three bullet holes on its right side, and a stray shirt lay tossed into a nearby bush.