Person of interest being questioned in Holmesburg double killingg

Investigators have identified a person of interest in the killings of two women shot to death in a house in Holmesburg on Saturday afternoon.

Just before 6 p.m., police responded to the sound of gunshots in a house on the 4700 block of Vista Street and found Dollie Evans, 67, and Ruby Thomas, 59, shot once each in the head.

Thomas, who had been living in Evans' home for the last few months, was on the living room couch. Police said they found Evans on the floor of a second-floor bedroom.

Homicide Capt. James Clark said Monday that a 25-year-old man also living in the house was seen leaving after the gunfire.

The man - who is not related to Evans or Thomas - was detained by patrol officers Monday and brought to homicide for questioning, Clark said.

Neighbors have called Evans a friendly grandmother who kept up a garden and helped other mothers with their children.

Neighbors also said that people often came and went from the house, and that there had been trouble involving the house in the past, including an incident in which Evans' 29-year-old grandson was shot and wounded outside the house after a Fourth of July party.

Evans was arrested on drug dealing charges in 2007. She was sentenced to a year of probation after pleading guilty to one count of possessing drug paraphernalia, court records show.

A police source said Monday that investigators believed the person of interest had been selling drugs out of Evans' home.

Investigators have not yet determined a motive for the slayings, the source said.