Erie shooter who killed eight was a grandfather, says father of slain child

A 45-year-old man killed eight people in a home in Erie, Pennsylvania, in the United States on Friday at around 5 pm, then took his own life. According to people who knew him, he was a grandfather and had given no sign that he was capable of such violence. Erie lies about 120 miles (190km) north of Pittsburgh.

What is known about the victims

Erie police chief Rick Lorah said the gunman was related to seven of the victims, while the eighth was a friend of a pregnant woman who was killed. Police have not released the victims' names or the shooter's.

Julius Windham, whose one-year-old daughter Amarianna was among the dead, said at a memorial on Sunday that the man never seemed distressed or out of the ordinary. The victims also included the girl's pregnant mother, her five-year-old son and the unborn baby. Windham said he believed the man's everyday smiling manner had been a front.

Mourners left candles, flowers and stuffed animals outside the house where the shooting happened.

The investigation

Lorah said video and audio recovered by investigators picked up muffled gunshots from inside the house just before two distressed women arrived and began pounding on the door. The gunman came out, shot them and went back inside. Officers found both women dead outside. After sending in a drone and a robot, they found a five-year-old boy and a one-year-old girl dead 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. Investigators plan to speak with relatives and examine the cellphones of the women killed outside.

Erie mayor Daria Devlin offered condolences to the families, and Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro said he was praying for the victims' loved ones. The case recalls a 1982 massacre in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in which a man killed 13 people, including five of his own children.