The man who killed eight people, before turning the gun on himself, in a mass shooting at a home in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Friday was a grandfather who had shown no signs of being capable of such violence, according to people who knew the shooter. A man whose child was among those killed said Sunday that the man never seemed distressed or out of character, the Associated Press reports. “I think that was a cover for him,” Julius Windham said during a tribute to the victims of Friday’s shooting. Windham’s one-year-old daughter, Amarianna; his pregnant mother; and the woman’s five-year-old son and her unborn baby were among the victims. “Him every day, him smiling and being fair, you would think none of that would happen,” Windham said. The 45-year-old gunman took his own life. Authorities have not released his name, but Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah said he was related to seven of the victims. The eighth was a friend of the pregnant woman, he said. Police have also not released their names. On Sunday, mourners placed candles, flowers and stuffed animals outside the home where the man opened fire shortly before 5 p.m. Friday. Windham was wearing a T-shirt with photographs of the murdered woman and children and the words “Forever in my heart.” “Words can’t even explain what I’m going through right now,” Windham said. “But I have to be strong for my community, you know what I’m saying? My family, my daughters, my sons, everyone.” “We don’t want that dark memory to be what defines their lives in this world,” a family friend told Cleveland 19 News. “How can you imagine something like this? How are you going to go home and tell your kids, ‘Hey, your mom, your brothers, your uncles and everyone else just got murdered by your grandfather?'” Video and audio evidence recovered by investigators included muffled gunshot sounds coming from inside the home just before two “distraught” women arrived and started banging on the door, Lorah said. The gunman then came out and shot them before returning inside. Firefighters work outside the home where nine members of a family were killed in a mass shooting Saturday in Erie, Pennsylvania. Photograph: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images Responding officers found the two women dead outside. After deploying a drone and a robot, they entered inside and found the bodies of the five-year-old boy and the one-year-old girl on the first floor; two more women and two young people on a staircase; and the shooter on the second floor. “Out of respect for the victims and the families, I will not discuss the details of what our officers found inside that home,” the chief said at a news conference. “But I want our community to understand the severity of what happened and the profound impact this tragedy has had on those involved and our community as a whole,” he said. Erie is about 120 miles (190 kilometers) north of Pittsburgh. Top US headlines and highlights delivered directly to you via email every morning after the newsletter promotion. Lorah declined to discuss the reason, but suggested mental health could be a factor. He said investigators would talk to relatives and examine the cellphones of the women who were killed outside the home. “They knew something was going on in that house,” Lorah said. “We have to find out what that is.” Nicole and Debra Eller, whose best friend was among the victims, told the Associated Press they have known the family for more than 30 years. Nicole Eller said the shooter “was a good guy, and then he started going downhill with everything.” “They were a lovely family. Who would have thought this would ever happen?” Debra Eller said. “Oh my God, this is so disturbing. This should never have happened to her or her children or anyone. Her grandchildren, her children, how can they do that?” The Erie shooting recalled a 1982 massacre in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, in which a man killed 13 people, including five of his own children. “I’m so sorry,” Devlin said. What happened to you was horrible, and there’s nothing any of us can say today that will make this any easier… Our entire community is with you, we’re grieving with you. And we’re here to support you.” “My heart breaks for this family. Lori and I are praying for their loved ones and the entire Erie community,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a post on X on Saturday.
