A pregnant Pennsylvania mother was days away from welcoming her baby when she became one of nine people killed, including the suspected shooter, in a devastating murder-suicide, grieving relatives said Saturday.
Angelina Stone died Friday evening at an Erie home along with her three children — 5-year-old Isiah, daughter Amari’anna and her unborn baby, Kyrie — as well as several family members. Police said the shooting began shortly before 5 p.m.
“She was pregnant, about to have her baby in a couple days, and she had a daughter who was almost 2 and her son Isiah. They were all just beautiful,” family friend Lisa Simmers told Erie News Now.
Stone had shared on social media that her due date was October 14.
Authorities have not publicly identified the shooter. Stone’s relatives, however, alleged that her father carried out the massacre before taking his own life.
“Angelina’s father killed Angelina and her children in a murder-suicide, and now our family is facing the painful task of laying them to rest,” Aaliyah Williams, the aunt of Stone’s daughter, wrote in a GoFundMe campaign.
The 45-year-old suspect reportedly opened fire around 4:53 p.m. at a residence in the 700 block of Perry Road on Erie’s East Side.
“Her two babies were on the spectrum. Innocent children, couldn’t have told on that man if they wanted to, and he still killed them,” Simmers told CBS Pittsburgh. “A crime like that, what do you say? A person kills two innocent children, a pregnant woman and the people coming to try to help her.”
“It’s mind-blowing to me to understand what was happening in that house while we were standing outside,” Simmers added. “The feeling of helplessness and knowing we couldn’t do anything while she was right there.”
Juicesiyah Alexander Ezekiel, Amari’anna’s father, struggled to hold back tears as he mourned the toddler.
“It was my baby, bro, and he just took her,” Ezekiel told Erie News Now. “Her name was Amari’anna. She’s the most beautiful baby God could have created.”
MUST READ: Trump Urges Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania to Join GOP
“I wouldn’t even put this on my worst enemy,” he said. “It’s sickening.”
Ezekiel said he had battled depression after surviving a homicide in Erie in 2022 and eventually left the area.
“I’m so broken, man,” he said. “I left Erie to stay away from that lifestyle, and I come back and lose my daughter, lose my baby mom, lose who I was fighting to stay alive for.”
Officers were dispatched to the property after the city’s ShotSpotter system detected reports of gunfire.
When police arrived, they found two women, ages 37 and 51, outside in the street with gunshot wounds.
The gunman had barricaded himself inside the residence, triggering a standoff with police. Officers waited for a search warrant before entering, Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah said at a news conference.
Police eventually went inside and discovered Isiah, Amari’anna and a 10-month-old girl on the first floor, according to Erie News Now.
Stone was found dead on the second floor with a 44-year-old woman and two men, ages 19 and 21.
“It was horrific. It was the worst scene I have ever experienced,” Lorah said.
The gunman died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Eight of the nine victims were related with the ninth identified as a family friend.
Lorah believes “mental health is at play here,” but did not provide a motive behind the killings.