The man who killed eight people, before turning the gun on himself, in a mass shooting at an Erie, Pa., home Friday was a grandfather who showed no signs he was capable of such violence, according to people who knew the shooter.
A man whose small child was among those killed said Sunday that the man never seemed distressed or out of character, the Associated Press reports.
“I think it was a front for him,” Julius Windham said during a tribute to victims of Friday’s shooting. Windham’s 1-year-old daughter, Amarianna; his pregnant mother; and the woman’s five-year-old son and her unborn baby were among the victims.
“Him every day, him smiling and just being — you would think nothing like that would happen,” Windham said.
The 45-year-old shooter committed suicide. 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, he said. Police have also not made their names public.
Mourners on Sunday placed candles, flowers and stuffed animals outside the home where the man opened fire shortly before 5 p.m. Friday. Windham wore a T-shirt with photos of the murdered 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 have to be strong for my community, you know what I’m saying? My family, my daughters, my sons, everyone.”
“We don’t want this dark memory to be what defines their life in this world,” a family friend told Cleveland 19 News. “How can you imagine something like that? How are you going to go home and tell your kids, ‘Hey, your mom and your siblings and your uncles and everyone were just murdered by your grandfather?'”
Video and audio evidence recovered by investigators included muffled gunshot sounds coming from inside the home just before two “distressed” women arrived and began banging on the door, Lorah said. The shooter then came out and shot them before going back inside.
Responding officers found the two women dead outside. After deploying a drone and a robot, they went inside and found the bodies of the five-year-old boy and the one-year-old girl on the first floor; two other women and two young men in a stairwell; and the shooter on the second floor.
“Out of respect for the victims and their 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 seriousness of what happened and the profound impact this tragedy has had on those involved and our community as a whole,” he said.
Erie is about 120 miles north of Pittsburgh.
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Lorah declined to discuss motive, but suggested mental health could be a factor. He said investigators would speak to relatives and examine cellphones of the women killed outside the home.
“They knew something was going on in that house,” Lorah said. “We need to understand what it is.”
Nicole and Debra Eller, whose best friend was among the victims, told The Associated Press they had 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 God, this is so upsetting. This should never have happened to her or her children or anyone. Her grandchildren, her children, how can you do this?”
The Erie shooting is reminiscent of the 1982 massacre in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in which a man killed 13 people, including five of his own children.
At a news conference Saturday, Erie Mayor Daria Devlin addressed part of her remarks directly to the victims’ families.
“I am deeply sorry,” Devlin said. What happened to you is horrible, and there is nothing any of us can say today that will make things easier… Our entire community is with you, we grieve 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 for the entire Erie community,” Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said in a message on X on Saturday.
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