Health management company must pay millions to family of victims killed in 2019 massacre

A health management company must pay millions of dollars to the family of four people killed in a Philadelphia shooting massacre after the company failed to submit paperwork that would have stopped the killer from buying the shotgun he used in the murders.

On Tuesday, April 7, 2026, the Philadelphia-based law firms Kline & Specter and Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky announced a $39.5 million verdict in the trial of Horizon Health Management LLC, a healthcare management company based in Texas.

In October 2019, Maurice Louis shot and killed his mother,  51-year-old Janet Woodson, his stepfather, 56-year-old Leslie Holmes, and his two half-brothers, 18-year-old Sy-eed Woodson and 7-year-old Leslie Holmes Jr. inside a West Philadelphia home.

Family members told NBC10 Louis had mental health issues, including depression and schizophrenia and had not been taking his medication at the time of the shooting.

Louis was involuntarily committed to the psychiatric ward at Mercy Fitzgerald in June 2018 after his mother, Janet Woodson, raised concerns. Woodson said at the time that her son was talking about killing multiple people. Louis was discharged about nine days later.

According to a lawsuit filed by the relatives of the four victims, Horizon Health – which managed the psychiatric services for Mercy Hospitals – failed to submit paperwork to the office of behavioral health which in turn submits the form to state police. The paperwork would have prevented Louis from buying a gun on the day before the murders.

More than a year later, on Oct. 28, 2019, Woodson once again took Louis back to Mercy Fitzgerald with similar concerns. According to the lawsuit, Louis was discharged again without seeing a psychiatrist who was not on site. Louis then bought a shotgun and then took the subway to Woodson’s house the next day, where he shot and killed his mother, his stepfather, and two brothers.

Following a two-week trial, a jury awarded $9.5 million in compensatory damages and $30 million in punitive damages to the family members of the victims. Horizon Health must pay 35% of the compensatory damages and all of the punitive damages. According to a spokesperson for Kline & Specter, Mercy Fitzgerald had previously settled and does not have to pay the verdict assigned to it.

“The jury’s verdict leaves no doubt that Horizon’s egregious failures were a direct cause in these four preventable deaths,” Colin Burke, an attorney with Kline & Specter, said. “Horizon has finally been held accountable for their role in this horrific tragedy and we thank the jury for their important work in this case.”

NBC10 reached out to Horizon Health for comment. We will include a statement from them once we receive it.