Police stand outside the home at 722 Perry Street where 9 members of a family were killed in an apparent domestic dispute on October 10, 2026 in Erie, Pennsylvania. The incident occurred late on Friday and investigators determined that all deaths occ
The gunman who killed seven relatives and a family friend in a mass shooting in Erie, Pennsylvania, late Friday afternoon was a grandfather who never seemed distressed, the father of a 1-year-old girl killed told the Associated Press.
What we know:
Julius Windham spoke with the AP while standing at a memorial to his toddler, Amarianna, her pregnant mother and the woman’s 5-year-old son and unborn baby, all victims in the shooting.
"I think that was a front for him," Windham said. "Him every day, him smiling and being just — you would think of nothing like that would happen."
Mourners set up a memorial Sunday outside the home with candles, flowers and stuffed animals.
The backstory:
Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah said the seven of the victims and the gunman were related. An eighth victim was a friend of one of the victims, he said.
Police responded Friday at approximately 4:50 p.m. to an automated gunshot detection alert at a home on Perry Street. Lorah said several 911 calls came in after police received the alert.
When officers arrived at the home minutes later, they found two women, 37 and 51, in the yard who had been shot dead.
Lorah told reporters at a Saturday afternoon news conference that investigators obtained Ring camera footage from a neighbor that showed the two women arriving at home, appearing distressed, pounding on the door and asking for help for neighbors before the gunman eventually came out of the home and shot them both, then went back in the home. That same footage appeared to capture muffled gunfire from inside the home before the women outside the home were shot, Lorah said.
The first officers to arrive could not make contact with anyone inside the home and heard no sounds. They would force their way inside the two-story home and find seven bodies inside.
On the first floor of police found Windham’s daughter and the 5-year-old boy. They found a 19-year-old man, a 21-year-old man, a 24-year-old woman and a 44-year-old woman on the second floor stairwell. The 45-year-old suspected shooter was found on the second floor. Police said he appeared to have a self-inflicted gunshot wound and found a firearm on his person.
Lorah said they believe all the victims had already been killed and the gunman was dead before the first officers arrived on the scene.
What they're saying:
Lorah told reporters the scene was the kind that "stay with you long after you leave them."
"Out of respect for the victims and the families, I will not discuss the details of what our officers encountered inside that home," the chief said.
But he said he believes the two women killed outside the home knew something was going on inside. He said he hopes to find out what they knew from their phones, but as of Saturday, he did not have any details to share.
"They knew something was going on at that house. We have to figure out what that is, and I think that we're going to get that through looking at the cell phones, speaking with family members, speaking with the witnesses again," he said.
He also said he believed "mental health is at play," but said it was too early to discuss a motive.
What we don't know:
Police have not yet released the names of the victims or the suspected gunman or what might have led to the killings.
The Source: Information in this story came from the Associated Press and prior FOX News reporting. This story was reported from Orlando.