A man told police he smoked a hallucinogenic drug before killing two women and critically injuring another with a machete in a downtown Scranton apartment building Tuesday evening, according to an arrest affidavit.
Michael Willie Marquis Woods, 38, also killed a service dog that belonged to one of the dead women, according to the affidavit.
At a Wednesday afternoon news conference at Scranton Police Headquarters, Lackawanna County District Attorney Brian Gallagher said investigating police found “pure evil” when they reached the sixth floor of the Jermyn Apartments where Woods and the victims lived.
“This was a gruesome, reprehensible and senseless act of violence where three women and a service dog were attacked in the hallway of the sixth floor of their apartment building,” Gallagher said. “The vast majority of this incident, the vast majority, is all on video surveillance, and it is horrific to watch.”
Authorities did not immediately identify the victims by name. Gallagher said the names would be released once family members are notified.
Police Chief Thomas Carroll said one dead woman was 61 years old, the other 59. The injured woman is 66.
“She is in critical condition,” Carroll said.
Gallagher and Carroll expressed condolences to the victims’ families.
Police search for motive
For now, Woods’ motive remains unknown, Gallagher said. Though Woods told police he smoked the hallucinogenic drug known as PCP, the district attorney said police have not confirmed that.
“That's under current investigation, we don't know that right now,” he said. “We'll have some answers as we move forward for you, but I don’t want to speculate as to any type of drug or mental health defense or anything like that.”
Gallagher also said he couldn’t comment on any relationship between the women and Woods beyond living in apartments on the same floor.
“Not that I’m comfortable revealing at this point,” he said.
He asked anyone with information about Woods, the victims or the case to call city police.
Gallagher said Woods moved to the Scranton area in 2020 from Jersey City, New Jersey, and into the Jermyn about two years ago.
The charges
Police charged Woods, 38, with two counts of criminal homicide, one count of attempted criminal homicide, two counts of aggravated assault and one count of aggravated cruelty to animals. He’s in the Lackawanna County Prison, held without bail. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Dec. 23 at 9:30 a.m.
Police found Woods on street with machete
Carroll said police were dispatched after multiple 911 calls reporting a man “armed with a machete attacking victims inside the building.”
“Callers reported screams, visible blood, with one caller identifying herself as a victim,” the chief said. “Many patrol officers arrived very quickly.”
Arriving police encountered Woods holding the machete near Biden Street and Wyoming Avenue, the intersection closest to the apartment building.
Officers ordered him to drop the machete.
“The suspect stopped and dropped the machete and was taken into custody,” city police detectives Michael Schultz and Jason Hyler wrote in an arrest affidavit. “The suspect had blood on his clothing. The machete also had blood on it ... The suspect with the machete made statements that he smoked PCP earlier.”
PCP, the slang name for phencyclidine, produces “mind-altering, hallucinogenic effects,” according to the National Drug Intelligence Center’s website. It was banned in 1978 for anything but research purposes.
Blood everywhere inside
Inside the apartment building, police found large amounts of blood outside two sixth-floor rooms and an elevator and a video recording of the attack.
They found the 61-year-old woman near the elevator and room 608, bleeding from an upper shoulder wound. She was pronounced dead later at a local hospital.
Police tried to contact apartment 608’s occupants.
“There was no answer,” the detectives wrote. “Police opened the door and found a female with severe chest wounds from an apparent stabbing. The female was unresponsive and wedged behind the door.”
Apartment 608’s occupant was the 59-year-old woman, who was also pronounced dead at the hospital later.
“Police found a deceased canine, a service dog, in room 608 ... under the bed,” the affidavit says. “The labrador retriever was apparently stabbed and was dead.”
At apartment 605, they found a lot more blood and tried to contact the occupants.
The 66-year-old survivor answered the door.
“The female’s hand was almost completely severed from her arm, and she suffered from a severe chest wound from an apparent stabbing,” the detectives wrote.
She remains in critical condition at the hospital.
‘There was screaming'
A witness saw Woods stab the two dead women.
“She said there was screaming” and saw the 66-year-old woman open her door before Woods stabbed her.
The video shows Woods leaving his apartment, 612, “and walking down the hallway with a machete,” according to the affidavit.
As he walks, the witness enters 608 and Woods follows her inside.
Shortly afterward, the witness and the 59-year-old woman leave the apartment with Woods following behind them, still holding the machete.
“As Woods approaches the elevator area, the elevator doors open and (the 61-year-old) victim steps off,” the affidavit says. “Woods attacks (the woman) by stabbing her in the chest, causing her to fall to the floor. He then attacks (the 59-year-old woman from 608) by throwing her to the ground and stabbing her in the chest.”
The witness managed to escape into her apartment “around the corner.”
At that point, the 66-year-old woman who survived opens her door and “Woods forces his way inside, attacking her by stabbing her in the chest.”
Woods heads for the elevator, emerges in the first-floor lobby and exits the building where police apprehend him.
Gallagher credited city police for responding quickly, professionally and decisively to 911 calls. They prevented harm to others, he said.
“As horrible as this incident was, it could have been worse,” Gallagher said. “He was apprehended on the sidewalk of Biden Street and Wyoming Avenue. It's Christmas. The mall (Marketplace at Steamtown) is right there (a block away). There are other patrons in bars and restaurants and but for their (police) intervention, this could have been a little bit worse."
Carroll said city officers are well-trained in responding to active threats.
“That is huge. We do have an extensive program for an active threat situation. That's what we responded to yesterday, and it validates our training,” he said. “Yesterday's response validates our training.”
