Pennsylvania mass shooter who killed eight was a grandfather, acquaintances say
A 45-year-old grandfather fatally shot eight people before taking his own life at a home in Erie, Pennsylvania, shortly before 5 pm on Friday. Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah confirmed the shooter was related to seven victims, while the eighth was a friend of a pregnant woman killed in the massacre. Among the dead were the pregnant mother, her unborn child, her five-year-old son, and her one-year-old daughter, Amarianna. Julius Windham, father of the slain toddler, said the gunman had shown no outward distress, masking his intentions behind an everyday, smiling facade.
Audio and video evidence showed muffled gunfire inside just before two distressed women arrived and pounded on the door. The shooter stepped outside, killed both women, and returned indoors. Responding officers deployed a drone and robot before entering to find the young children on the first floor, two women and two young men in a stairwell, and the gunman dead on the second floor.
Chief Lorah noted mental health may have been a factor, adding that detectives are reviewing the victims' phones to determine why the women went to the house. Acquaintances Nicole and Debra Eller remembered the shooter as a previously good man whose life had unraveled, while Erie Mayor Daria Devlin and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro offered public condolences to the grieving families.
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