Mental health evaluation under way in slayings

NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A man accused of killing his parents and twin brother with a short sword is undergoing a mental health evaluation.

The Times-Herald of Norristown reports 23-year-old Joseph McAndrew Jr. began his evaluation on Thursday. He’s charged in the brutal slayings of his father, Joseph Sr., his mother, Susan, and his twin brother, James.

A preliminary hearing for McAndrew had been scheduled for today but was postponed. It has not been rescheduled.

Police were called to the home in upscale Upper Merion for a domestic dispute on March 5. Officers say Joseph Jr. was outside, covered in blood, and told them an “extermination” had just happened.

Joseph McAndrew Jr. faces three counts each of first- and third-degree murder.