A 45-year-old grandfather killed nine people in a Pennsylvania mass shooting before taking his own life, relatives said, after gunfire erupted at a family home in Erie on Friday evening.
Police said officers were sent to the scene at about 5pm after a ShotSpotter alert reported two gunshots in the street. The gunman later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Among those killed was Angelina Stone, 24, who was pregnant. Her unborn daughter, Kyrie, was due to be born on Wednesday, according to her family.
Stone’s other children, five-year-old Isaiah and Amari’anna, who was nearly two, also died in the shooting. The children were the gunman’s grandchildren, relatives said.
Police found two women, aged 37 and 51, dead outside the property. Inside the home, officers discovered the bodies of a 19-year-old man, a 21-year-old man and a 44-year-old woman.
The victims have not been formally identified by police, who said surviving relatives were still being informed. Fundraising pages have named the two women found outside as Lora Roberts, 37, and Twila Tanner, 51.
The pages said Roberts and Tanner were killed while trying to protect the children. A fundraiser for Ms Tanner said she had put herself in harm’s way while attempting to help a friend protect her family.
Roberts was remembered as a mother of five who had been engaged to her partner, Jeremy, for 14 years. A donation appeal shared by her fiancé’s partner said Roberts “gave her life trying to save another”.
Juicesiyah Alexander Ezekiel, the father of Amari’anna, said the gunman was Stone’s father.
“It was my baby, bro, and he just took her,” he said. “Her name was Amari’anna. She was the most beautiful baby God could have created.”
Lisa Simmers, described as Ezekiel’s sister, said the children “did not deserve what happened to them”.
“We just want to make it right so that the respects are paid to them and they get the send-off they deserve,” she said, adding that the tragedy would be remembered by the city for years.
Video surveillance captured gunfire inside the home before two “distressed” women began banging on the front door, authorities said. The shooter then came outside and shot them before returning indoors and turning the gun on himself.
The circumstances surrounding the Pennsylvania mass shooting remain under investigation. Police said they believed it was a mental health situation, but had not released the identities of the gunman or the victims.
