Suspect in 4 N.J. slayings surrenders to police

Rolando Terrell is accused of shooting four women and setting home ablaze

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updated 4:14 p.m. ET Sept. 13, 2008

IRVINGTON, N.J. - A man accused of shooting four women and then setting their house on fire to cover up the crime surrendered to police Saturday.

Rolando Terrell turned himself in to Irvington police late Saturday morning, Essex County Prosecutor's Office spokesman Paul Loriquet said.

Terrell faces murder and weapons charges and will be held at the Essex County Jail on $2 million bail. His arraignment is set for next week.

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Terrell's attorney Michael Robbins said his client will plead not guilty.

Forty-year-old Candes McLean rented the apartment where the killings occurred. She was killed along with her 18-year-old daughter Talia, her 18-year-old niece Zakiyyah Jones, and her 13-year-old stepdaughter Latrisha Fields-Carruthers.

A fifth woman, whom police did not identify, survived the attack and fled the home carrying Talia McLean's 14-month-old son. The toddler was unharmed and was placed with relatives.

Investigators have said the killings were drug- and possibly gang-related, and that Terrell knew Candes McLean. They also have said others may have been involved, but they have not named additional suspects.

Neighbors said they heard an argument and gunshots before the fire broke out at about 7:30 a.m. Monday. Three people living on the second floor and a man living on the third floor escaped the fire uninjured.

The killings happened in a neighborhood that borders Newark and is less than a mile from where three college-bound friends were slain execution-style in a school playground last year.