4 men now charged in quadruple slaying in West Philly

Philadelphia police on Wednesday announced the arrests of three more men in last month’s execution-style slayings of two sisters and two men, found shot to death in a West Philadelphia home in what authorities have said was a drug deal gone bad.

The arrests this month of Robert Long, 30, of the 1600 block of North 60th Street in West Philadelphia; Nasir Moss Robertson, 36, of the 6100 block of Glenmore Avenue in Southwest Philadelphia; and Keith Garner, 34, of the 6100 block of Master Street in Brewerytown, follow last month’s arrest of Jahlil Porter, 32, of the 200 block of East Ashmead Street in East Germantown.

Authorities have said the victims included two men trying to sell a stash of drugs they found in a house they were renovating on the 5100 block of Malcolm Street. Police contend that the suspects went to purchase the drugs at the house Nov. 18 and instead shot the four people in the head. Police found the bodies the next day in the unfinished basement after relatives requested that they check on the well-being of the victims.

Police Homicide Capt. John Ryan said Wednesday that two weapons were used, but he declined to elaborate.

The victims were Tiyaniah Hopkins, 20; her sister Yaleah Hall, 17; William Maurice Taylor, 31; and Akeen Mattox, 28. Relatives have said the two men recently moved into the home and considered themselves stepbrothers because they were raised together. Ryan previously said the two females were not involved in the botched drug deal that led to the slayings.

Taylor’s great-uncle Greg Brinkley, 60, of East Falls, said Wednesday that his family was “extremely pleased to hear” of the arrests. He gave Police Commissioner Richard Ross and homicide detectives “major kudos” for their work.

“This has really, really been a trying time for us,” he said, and the arrests have “lessened some of the anger for our family.”

The four suspects have been charged with murder, robbery, conspiracy, and related offenses.

Long’s court-appointed lawyer, Benjamin Cooper, and Mandy Nace, a spokesperson for the Defender Association of Philadelphia, which is representing Porter, declined to comment Wednesday. Attorneys were not listed in court records for the other two men.