A pregnant woman and two children were among eight people killed in a shooting in Pennsylvania, as police described the gun rampage as one of the most difficult and heartbreaking scenes they had ever faced.
The killings took place Friday evening in the 700 block of Perry Street in Erie, roughly 120 miles north of Pittsburgh.
Residents called 911 after hearing gunfire and seeing a man shoot a handgun outside a home. According to ErieNewsNow, officers arriving at the scene found two women dead in the street.
Reports said one of the women was pregnant.
The suspected gunman then barricaded himself inside a house. The standoff ended with the man dead, apparently after he shot and killed himself.
Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah called the deaths “devastating” and said the shooting was “deeply disturbing.”
“This is one of the most difficult and heartbreaking scenes our officers and investigators have ever encountered,” Lorah said last night, according to WABC–TV.
The City of Erie said Saturday that all eight victims were killed before police reached the scene.
Eight people, including two women and not including the gunman, were killed in a Friday night shooting in Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah said the shooting was among the worst scenes he had witnessed during his law-enforcement career
Erie police announced that they would provide an update on the killings at a 4 p.m. press conference Saturday
Officers from the Erie Police Department, along with members of its SWAT team, surrounded the house following the shootings.
Police repeatedly called on the person inside to surrender, but apparently received no response.
Additional loud bangs were heard during the standoff, initially raising fears that more people might be at risk.
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Authorities later clarified that the sounds came from police flash bangs. Officers entered the property after securing a search warrant.
Lorah said he had “not seen anything like this in my 28–plus years” in law enforcement.
“I’m not sure that the city of Erie has ever seen the loss of life and the devastation that we just witnessed,” Lorah added.
Mayor Daria Devlin described the deaths as a “terrible tragedy” and assured residents that the situation had been contained.
“Our thoughts are with the victims, their loved ones, and everyone impacted by tonight’s tragedy,” Devlin said.
As of early Saturday afternoon, authorities had not identified the victims or released further details about them
Stunned neighbors could be seen gathered at a police cordon after the killings on Saturday in Erie
Heavily armed Erie SWAT officers surrounded the home on Perry Street during a tense standoff with a suspected gunman, who was later found dead inside from a self-inflicted gunshot
Authorities have not yet revealed the victims’ identities and ages.
It is also not known if they were related, if the gunman knew the people killed or what happened before the fatal shooting.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Saturday that he was offering his full support to Erie after the mass shooting, which he called tragic.
‘My heart breaks for this family,’ Shapiro wrote on X. Details about the victims have not been publicly shared.
Erie authorities are expected to give an update this afternoon when they hold a press conference at 4pm local time to address the shooting and the timeline of events.
