A mother who was eight months pregnant and her two young children were among the nine people killed in a devastating shooting rampage.
The violence unfolded Friday evening inside a home in the 700 block of Perry Street in Erie, Pennsylvania, roughly 120 miles north of Pittsburgh.
Family members identified one of the victims as Angelina Stone, 24, a mother of two, in social media posts.
At a press conference Saturday, Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah confirmed that an eight-months-pregnant mother had been killed. He also said a five-year-old boy and a one-year-old girl were among the victims.
Stone’s Instagram profile said Isaiah was born on July 15, 2021, making him five years old, while Amari’anna was born on November 21, 2024, making her one.
Her social media posts also indicated that her third child, Kyrie, was due on October 14 — this upcoming Wednesday.
Police said the other victims included females aged 37, 41 and 44, as well as males aged 19 and 21.
The 45-year-old shooter died by suicide in the attack, bringing the total number of dead to nine. Investigators found a registered .40-caliber handgun on him.
Family members identified Angelina Stone, 24, as one of the victims in Friday’s Erie, Pennsylvania, shooting spree that left nine people dead, including the gunman
Stone, a mother of two, wrote on social media about her five-year-old son and one-year-old daughter
Police said the 45-year-old shooter appeared to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound
Aaliyah Williams, who described herself as the sister of Amari’anna’s father, said in a GoFundMe fundraiser that Stone had been killed in a murder-suicide.
‘Now our family is facing the painful task of laying them to rest,’ Williams, of Erie, wrote.
Williams said Stone’s family was unable to afford the costs resulting from what they described as an “unthinkable tragedy.”
Relatives said they had only two weeks to arrange funeral services and cover other expenses for Stone and her children.
‘This is more than [we] can carry alone right now, and we truly need the community to rally around us,’ the fundraiser stated.
By Saturday afternoon, the campaign had collected about $11,000 toward its initial $13,000 target.
Stone often shared her love for her children online, including photographs documenting her pregnancies and growing baby bumps.
On September 25, she posted an ultrasound image of her unborn baby and said she was 36 weeks pregnant.
‘Momma cant wait to hold you,’ she wrote.
Eight of the nine dead were related to the shooter, police said on Saturday
The suspect emerged from the Erie home and shot two women outside, according to police
Lorah said Saturday that eight of the nine dead were related to the shooter. None of them were named.
One of the women outside the home was a family friend and the other was a sister-in-law to one of the victims.
Ring doorbell video footage showed that the two women arrived at the residence ‘appearing distressed’ and ‘seeking assistance from neighbors’ while pounding on their doors, he said.
Audio appeared to capture muffled gunfire from inside the residence before the suspect emerged from the home and shot the women.
All of the victims inside the residence lived there, but the two women outside the home did not.
Lorah said it was too soon to discuss motive for the shooting, though he said mental health could be at play.
The police investigation, which was ongoing, would focus on what the women ‘knew’ when they arrived at the house.
Neighbors gathered outside the scene of the shooting, which was cordoned off, on Friday evening
Lorah said new information could perhaps be obtained through looking at their cellphones and further speaking to witnesses and family members.
Police had ‘limited information’ and did not know if the suspect remained inside the home, fled the scene or posed an ongoing threat.
Lorah said officers were met by an eerie silence and that there were ‘no cries of help from the inside.’
Law enforcement also considered the possibility of hostages being present, including children, while seeking a search warrant. Drones and a robot were deployed to eventually detect the victims inside.
Erie authorities said earlier on Saturday that all of the deaths happened before local police officers arrived.
More gunfire was seemingly heard afterwards, initially stoking fears that others could be in danger.
However, Erie authorities later clarified that the loud sounds were in fact flash bangs from the law enforcement response.
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