WASHINGTON - Police have made an arrest in a triple homicide that claimed the life of a woman and two of her three children.

Joseph Randolph Mays, 44, was arrested Saturday and charged with three counts of murder in the deaths of 37-year-old Erika Peters her two sons, 10-year-old Eric Peters and 8-year-old Dakota Peters.

Mays, who was transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries following the incident, was treated and released into police custody.

D.C. police confirm the three were fatally stabbed by Mays in what police are calling a domestic dispute. A third child, a 2-year-old female, was found uninjured and is now with family members.

What began as a call for a disturbance in the 2000 block of Maryland Avenue in NE around 2:15 p.m Saturday quickly turned deadly. First responders referred to the scene as 'very disturbing' and 'gruesome.'

44-year-old Joseph R. Mays

37-year-old Erika Peters

It happened in the Carver Terrace Apartments where neighbors heard screams and called police. Arriving officers, with the help of the fire department, forced their way into the home.

"It is just a sad day right now. I'm a little lost for words, a little angry, you know, a lot of this could avoided," said Pastor Darryl Lewis with Family Community Fellowship.

"Obviously with domestics sometimes it is completely unpredictable. I don't know if there is anybody that actually could identify and prevent a case like this or a case that involves a domestic," said D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier (web | news | bio) .

Neighbors say Peters was a deaf mother who lived in the apartment with her three kids, but say Mays is only the father of the younger girl.

"The two young people who lost their lives potentially at the hands of some other person is just an awful, awful thought, something that should just never happen," said D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty.

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