Man Charged With Murdering 3 People, Shooting Another Inside Kensington Home

A Philadelphia man is charged with murder after shooting three people to death and seriously injuring a fourth before barricading himself inside his Kensington home this weekend.

James Elijah Dickson, 46, is charged with three counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and related offenses for the shooting that happened early Sunday morning at his home along the 600 block of E. Westmoreland Street, police said.

Dickson called 911 to confess to the killings just before 4 a.m. Sunday and told the police dispatcher he was armed with a shotgun and wouldn't come out until "the sun comes up," police said.

The Philadelphia Police SWAT unit was dispatched and eventually coaxed him out of his home around 5 a.m.

Searching the home, police found the bodies of a woman and two men laying across the living room, dining room and kitchen, detectives said. All three were shot in the head.

A fourth person, shot in the arm, was able to flee the house, police said. He was taken to Temple University Hospital in critical condition.

The identities of two of those killed, the woman and one man, have yet to be released. Police identified the third deceased victim as 46-year-old Edwin Laboy.

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A motive for the shooting was not immediately known.

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