ERIE, Pennsylvania — Nine people are dead — including two children, a pregnant woman, and the suspected gunman — after a shooting at a home on Erie's east side on Friday evening that ended in a tense standoff with a SWAT team, according to local reports. It is one of the deadliest mass shootings in Pennsylvania in recent years.
Police responded at around 5 p.m. EDT on Friday, October 9, to reports of gunfire in the 700 block of Perry Street, near East 7th Street. When officers arrived, they found two women dead in the street outside a home, local outlet Erie News Now reported.
The suspected gunman had barricaded himself inside the residence, prompting a large police response. Officers used a loudspeaker to order him to surrender, and additional gunfire was heard from inside the home during the standoff, according to local television reports. When police eventually entered the property, they found more victims throughout the house. The suspect was found dead of what police described as an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah called the scene one of the most difficult and heartbreaking his department had ever encountered. "The loss of life is devastating and the circumstances that we are working through are deeply disturbing," he told reporters, declining to release further details out of respect for the victims.
The shooter has not been identified, and police have not said whether the victims were related or what may have triggered the violence. No motive has been established. The City of Erie said the shooter is deceased and there is no ongoing threat to the public. Erie News Now reported the death toll reached nine; the police chief did not immediately confirm an exact figure.
This is a developing story. USA Daily News will update this post as verified details emerge.
Sources: New York Post, The Sun, TalkErie.com / Erie News Now.
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