Pennsylvania shooter who killed 8 was familys patriarch, father of toddler killed says
A man whose toddler was among eight people killed in a mass shooting in Erie, Pennsylvania, said Sunday that the gunman was a grandfather who never seemed distressed or out of the ordinary.“I think that was a front for him,” Julius Windham said as he stood at a memorial to victims of Friday’s shooting, including his 1-year-old daughter Amarianna, her pregnant mother and the woman’s 5-year-old son and unborn baby.“Him every day, him smiling and being just — you would think of nothing like 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 not made their names public, either.Mourners on Sunday placed candles, flowers and stuffed animals outside the home where the man opened fire shortly before 5 p.m.
Friday.Windham wore a T-shirt with pictures of the women 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 gotta be strong for my community, you know what I’m saying? My family, my daughters, my sons, everybody.”Video and audio evidence recovered by investigators included muffled gunshot sounds coming from inside the home just before two “distressed” women arrived and began pounding on the door, Lorah said.The gunman then came out and shot them as they ran toward him, before returning inside.Responding officers found the two women dead outside.
After deploying a drone and robot, they went inside and found the bodies of the 5-year-old boy and 1-year-old girl on the first floor; two more women and two young men in a stairwell; 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 encountered inside that home,” the chief said at a news conference.“But I want ou...