ERIE, Pa. — A man whose toddler was among eight people killed in a mass shooting in Erie, Pennsylvania, said Sunday that the gunman was a grandfather who never seemed out of the ordinary, The Associated Press reported.
“I think that was a front for him,” Julius Windham said at a memorial to the victims of Friday’s shooting, who included his 1-year-old daughter, Amarianna, her pregnant mother and the woman’s 5-year-old son.
The 45-year-old gunman took his own life. Authorities have not released his name, but Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah said he was related to seven of the victims. The eighth was a friend of the pregnant woman. Police have not publicly identified the victims.
Lorah said video and audio evidence captured muffled gunshots inside the home shortly before 5 p.m. Friday, just before two “distressed” women arrived and pounded on the door. The gunman came out and shot them as they ran toward him, then went back inside, according to the chief.
Officers found the two women dead outside. After sending in a drone and robot, they found the bodies of the 5-year-old boy and 1-year-old girl on the first floor, two more women and two young men in a stairwell, and the shooter on the second floor.
Lorah declined to discuss a motive but suggested mental health could be a factor. “They knew something was going on at that house,” he said of the women killed outside. “We have to figure out what that is.”
Mourners left candles, flowers and stuffed animals outside the home. “Words can’t even explain what I’m going through right now,” Windham said.
Erie Mayor Daria Devlin told the families Saturday: “Our entire community is with you, we’re grieving with you.” Erie is about 120 miles north of Pittsburgh.
Sources: KTAR News/AP. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: CBP Photography / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
