The man who killed eight people, before turning the gun on himself, in a mass shooting in a home in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Friday was a grandfather who had not shown signs that he was capable of such violence, according to people who knew the shooter.
A man whose toddler was among those killed said on Sunday that the man never seemed distressed or out of the ordinary, the Associated Press reports.
“I think that was a front for him,” said Julius Windham during a memorial to victims of Friday’s shooting. Windham’s one-year-old daughter, Amarianna; her pregnant mother; and the woman’s five-year-old son and unborn baby were among the victims.
“Him every day, him smiling and being just – you would think of nothing like that would happen,” Windham said.
The 45-year-old gunman took his own life. Authorities have not released his name, but the Erie police chief, Rick Lorah, said he was related to seven of the victims. The eighth was a friend of the pregnant woman, he said. Police have not made their names public, either.
Mourners on Sunday placed candles, flowers and stuffed animals outside the home where the man opened fire shortly before 5 pm on Friday. Windham wore a T-shirt with pictures of the slain woman and children and the words “Forever in my heart”.
“Words can’t even explain what I’m going through right now,” Windham said. “But I gotta be strong for my community, you know what I’m saying? My family, my daughters, my sons, everybody.”
“We don’t want that dark memory to be what defines their lives in this world,” a family friend told Cleveland 19 News. “How do you even fathom something like this? How will you go home and tell your kids: ‘Hey, your mom, your siblings, your uncles and everybody else just got murdered by your grandpa?’”
Video and audio evidence recovered by investigators included muffled gunshot sounds coming from inside the home just before two “distressed” women arrived and began pounding on the door, Lorah said. The gunman then came out and shot them before returning inside.
Responding officers found the two women dead outside. After deploying a drone and robot, they went inside and found the bodies of the five-year-old boy and one-year-old girl on the first floor; two more women and two young men in a stairwell; and the shooter on the second floor.
“Out of respect for the victims and the families, I will not discuss the details of what our officers encountered inside that home,” the chief said at a news conference.
“But I want our community to understand the gravity of what happened and the profound impact this tragedy has had on those involved and on our community as a whole,” he said.
Erie is about 120 miles (190km) north of Pittsburgh.
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Lorah declined to discuss motive but suggested mental health could be a factor. He said investigators would talk to relatives and examine the cellphones of the women who were killed outside the home.
“They knew something was going on at that house,” Lorah said. “We have to figure out what that is.”
Nicole and Debra Eller, whose best friend was among the victims, told the Associated Press they have known the family for more than 30 years. Nicole Eller said the shooter “was a good guy, and then he started going downhill with everything”.
“They were a lovely family. Who would have thought this would ever happen?” Debra Eller said. “Oh my gosh, this is so upsetting. This should have never happened to her or the kids or anybody. His grandchildren, his kids, how can you do that?”
The Erie shooting was reminiscent of a 1982 massacre in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in which a man killed 13 people, including five of his own children.
At a news conference on Saturday, Erie’s mayor, Daria Devlin, addressed a portion of her remarks directly to the victims’ families.
“I am so deeply sorry,” Devlin said. What happened to you was horrific, and there is nothing that any of us can say today that will make this any easier … Our entire community is with you, we’re grieving with you. And we are here to support you.”
“My heart breaks for this family. Lori and I are praying for their loved ones and the entire Erie community,” said Pennsylvania’s governor, Josh Shapiro, in a post on X on Saturday.
