A gunman killed eight people at an Erie, Pennsylvania home Friday, including two young children and a pregnant woman, before taking his own life, police said.
Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah told reporters Saturday that officers found a scene he called the worst he had ever experienced at a house on 7th and Perry Streets, ABC News reported.
Seven of the dead were family members. One was a family friend. A 45-year-old man police described as the shooter, and as related to the victims inside the house, was found on the second floor with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
No motive has been released. Lorah said the investigation is continuing and that police had no additional information on why it happened.
Officers responded around 4:50 p.m. Friday after a ShotSpotter alert flagged shots fired. Police later said the killings had already happened before they arrived.
Lorah said officers met silence. No cry for help. No movement inside.
He pushed back on criticism that crews waited too long to go in.
"We did not hear a cry for help. We did not see movement inside. Had any of those been heard, we would have made entry immediately. Those officers were met with an eerie silence when they arrived there,"
A SWAT team entered after police obtained a warrant. Lorah said no more shots were fired between the first response and that entry.
Police said two people were killed outside the home, described as a sister-in-law and a family friend. Doorbell cameras recorded them pounding on the door before the gunfire.
Lorah laid out what investigators believe happened next.
"We believe that the shooter comes out and calls towards the two females. They run towards, and then he then he shoots them,"
Inside, the toll was just as grim. A 5-year-old boy and a 1-year-old girl were found dead on the first floor. Four more victims were found dead in a second-floor stairwell: a 24-year-old woman, a 44-year-old woman, a 19-year-old man, and a 21-year-old man.
One female victim inside the house was eight months pregnant. Victim ages among the family members ranged from the 1-year-old to 51, Lorah said.
The weapon recovered at the scene was a.40-caliber handgun registered to the suspect.
Police had initially referred to nine victims and did not say whether that count included the gunman. Names of the dead have not been released publicly in the reporting.
Briefing reporters Saturday, the chief did not soften what his officers found.
"It was horrific. It was the worst scene I have ever experienced,"
Overnight, officers carried out family notifications. Erie Mayor Daria Devlin said authorities held back early details in part because other relatives had not been at the house, and because families came first.
"So our officers during the night had to do the terrible work of notifying families. And again, when we think about the order of what we're worried about, the public safety, the families first, and then giving the rest of the information,"
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro released a statement Saturday morning after speaking with Devlin and offering support. He called the killings a "mass shooting" and said he and his wife were praying for the family and the Erie community.
"My heart breaks for this family. Lori and I are praying for their loved ones and the entire Erie community,"
By Saturday night, neighbors and other residents had gathered for a memorial to the victims.
Police have not identified a motive. They have not released the full legal names of the eight people killed or of the 45-year-old man they say fired the shots and then turned the gun on himself.
The exact length of time between the first response and SWAT entry was not detailed. No arrests or charges were described, and none would apply to a dead suspect. Manner-of-death rulings beyond the police account were not included in the initial reporting.
What is clear is the human cost inside one Erie home on a Friday afternoon: two small children, a woman eight months pregnant, other relatives, and a family friend, eight lives ended before first responders ever stepped through the door.
Family after family got the knock no one wants. A city is left to bury children and neighbors while investigators hunt for a reason that may never satisfy anyone who loved them.
