On December 18 at around 8 pm, Philadelphia police responded to 911 calls from neighbors who heard a person screaming in a house located near 19^th and Haines Streets. When they arrived, they found 39-year-old Maisah Larkin with multiple gunshots to her head. The responding medics declared her dead at 8:36 pm.

The suspect in her shooting is 37-year-old Stanley Baptiste, who was said to be her partner. He allegedly shot and killed Larkin, then took their triplets, a girl and two boys, with him.

In a tweet, which has now been deleted, the Philadelphia Police Department published that Baptiste and the children are missing, in an attempt to gather information from neighbors. They also added that the children were at “special risk of harm or injury.”

Baptiste was apprehended around 10 pm on the same day in Lansdale, Montgomery County. According to reports, he was inside his 2004 Gold Lincoln Navigator on Valley Forge Road. When the police tried to stop his vehicle, he slowly stopped driving.

When the police checked on him, they found him with multiple gunshot wounds to the head, which were said to be self-inflicted. 

The police then faced a new problem; the triplet toddlers were nowhere to be found. 

After a thorough search, the toddlers were finally found on Monday with a friend of the family in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, about 35 miles from Philadelphia. Fortunately, the kids were safe and unharmed.

According to Fox 29 news, there had been an issue of domestic violence in the household. Brenda Lovelace, a neighbor, said that Larkin told her that Baptiste has been abusing her and that she wanted to leave him.

The police are still investigating the murder-suicide incident. The children will be placed under the care of another relative but are sadly now orphans.