Nine people died in a shooting in Erie, a city of 100,000 inhabitants in Pennsylvania, United States. Two children were also among the victims, CBS News reported. The alleged perpetrator was found dead with a gunshot wound which, according to initial findings, he had caused himself.
The alarm and police intervention
The alarm went off around 5pm on Friday 9 October. The officers intervened after some witnesses had seen a man shoot and then enter a house. Two women were found dead in the street, while the other bodies were discovered inside the house.
Police operations continued for hours, with the intervention of special teams. On Saturday morning, however, investigators clarified a decisive point: all the deaths had occurred before the arrival of the officers and no further shots were fired during their intervention. The explosions heard during the operations were caused by the stun grenades used by the police.
The police: “Devastating scenes”
Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah described the scene as one of the most difficult and painful and professionally devastating ever faced by his men, adding, “I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.” Out of respect for the victims and their families, he therefore chose not to divulge the details of what was found in the house. Investigators are working to reconstruct what happened: at the moment a motive has not been indicated and the alleged perpetrator has not been publicly identified. Police officers who responded to the scene were offered psychological support following the terrible accident
According to the New York Postone of the victims was pregnant. The detail does not appear in the official statements reported so far.
The Municipality and the mayor Daria Devlin have reassured the residents: the alleged perpetrator of the massacre is dead and there are no further dangers for the population. The authorities also urged people to share information with caution, remembering that unverified reports and assumptions can aggravate the pain of families and create fear in the community.
The governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, also spoke on Saturday morning, confirming the death of nine people and announcing that he had offered the mayor his administration’s full support. He expressed closeness to the families of the victims and to the entire city.