New Jersey ? A young man was charged Friday with strangling his half-sisters, ages 6 and 10, and attacking his mother in a rampage at the family home.

Marqueese Lee, 20, was charged with two counts of murder and one count of aggravated assault, said Bernie Weisenfeld, a spokesman for the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office.

Authorities went to the home Thursday evening when a neighbor reported the girls’ mother, Lucille Bevans, had been struck in the head with a hammer. She escaped with her 1-year-old nephew but said the girls were still inside.

Police broke into the home and recovered the girls’ bodies, according to witnesses. All the while, Lee was barricaded in the living room, holding a knife to his chest, said Thomas Sullivan, chief of detectives for the Gloucester County Prosecutor’s Office.

Lee was taken into custody a short time later.

Bail was set at $750,000. Lee has been transferred to the county jail after his mental health was evaluated at an undisclosed facility earlier in the day, Weisenfeld said.