8 dead after shooting in Erie, Pa., police say. Gunman also dead
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- Eight people were killed Friday in a shooting in Erie, Pa., including two children and a pregnant woman, police said. The shooter was also found dead.
- The gunman was related to seven of the victims and the eighth was a friend of the pregnant woman, the police chief said.
A shooting in a residential area of Erie, Pa., left eight people dead including two children and a pregnant woman, police said Saturday. The gunman was also found dead.
Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah said the assailant, a 45-year-old man, was related to seven of the victims in Friday’s shooting, and the eighth was a friend of the pregnant woman.
Video and audio evidence recovered by investigators showed two “distressed” women arriving at the home shortly before 5 p.m. and pounding on the door, he said. The gunman then came out and shot them before returning inside.
Police arrived to find the two women dead outside. Inside they found the bodies of a 5-year-old boy, a 1-year-old girl, two more women, two young men and the shooter.
Lorah declined to discuss motive but said investigators would talk to other relatives and examine the cellphones of the women who were killed outside the home.
“They knew something was going on at that house,” he said. “We have to figure out what that is.”
Officers are said to have arrived within minutes of receiving an alert via ShotSpotter, a controversial gunshot detection system that relies on artificial intelligence and a network of microphones to identify gunshots. The city said in a statement that no shots were fired after that.
“Sounds heard during the police response that may have been mistaken for gunfire were flash bangs associated with law enforcement’s tactical response,” the city said.
“I have not seen anything like this in my 28-plus years,” Lorah told a local news station earlier in the day. “I’m not sure that the city of Erie has ever seen the loss of life and the devastation that we just witnessed.”
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said he offered his administration’s “full support” to Erie Mayor Daria Devlin.
Erie is about 128 miles north of Pittsburgh.
GaNun writes for the Associated Press.
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