A pregnant woman and two children were among eight people killed in a Pennsylvania shooting, a scene police described as one of the most painful and difficult they had witnessed in their careers.
The deadly attack unfolded Friday evening along the 700 block of Perry Street in Erie, roughly 120 miles north of Pittsburgh.
Residents alerted 911 after hearing gunshots and reportedly seeing a man fire a handgun outside a house. Officers arriving at the scene found two women dead in the roadway, according to ErieNewsNow.
Reports said one of the victims was pregnant.
The suspected gunman later barricaded himself inside a house. The standoff ended when he was found dead, apparently after shooting himself.
Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah described the loss of life as “devastating” and the shooting as “deeply disturbing.”
“This is one of the most difficult and heartbreaking scenes our officers and investigators have ever encountered,” Lorah said, according to WABC–TV.
The City of Erie said Saturday that all of the victims died before police reached the location.
Eight people, including two women and excluding the gunman, died in Friday night’s shooting in Erie, Pennsylvania
Police Chief Rick Lorah said the Erie shooting ranked among the worst scenes he had encountered during his law enforcement career
Erie police announced plans to discuss the killings during a 4 p.m. press conference Saturday
Officers from the Erie Police Department, along with SWAT personnel, surrounded the home following the shooting.
Police issued repeated commands for the person inside to come out, but appeared to receive no reply.
Additional loud bangs were heard during the standoff, prompting initial concern that more people might be at risk.
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Authorities later said the sounds were flash-bang devices used by police. Officers entered the house 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 said.
Mayor Daria Devlin called the incident a “terrible tragedy” and assured residents that the situation was under control.
“Our thoughts are with the victims, their loved ones, and everyone impacted by tonight’s tragedy,” Devlin said.
By early Saturday afternoon, officials had not released the victims’ identities or additional information 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.