Police: Family patriarch kills 8, self in Erie
A coroner on Monday released the names of the gunman and six of the eight people he shot and killed at a home in Erie, Pennsylvania, including seven of his relatives.
The shooter in Friday's attack was Matthew Stone Sr., 45, according to Erie County coroner Lyell Cook. Stone took his own life at the home, Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah said.
According to Cook, the adult victims were Michelle Stone, 44; Angelina Stone, 24, who was due to give birth Monday; Jonathan Stone, 19; Matthew Stone, 21, and two women who lived at other addresses: Lora Roberts, 37, and Twila Tanner, 51. He said a 5-year-old boy and a 1-year-old girl also died, but that state law prevented him from releasing their names.
At a memorial to the victims, Julius Windham said his daughter Amarianna was the toddler who was killed. The girl's mother was Angelina Stone, who was also the mother of the boy who died, he said, noting that attacker was a grandfather and the family patriarch.
Family friend Nicole Eller said Roberts frequently went to the house to help during the pregnancy of her niece and neighbor, Angelina Stone.
Roberts, identified by friends as a mother of five who was engaged to be married, was a volunteer and former board member for a community group that helped homeless people. She wrote a July 15 Facebook post decrying recent shootings in Erie.
“Erie we need to do better!!" she wrote. "Life is precious and its heartbreaking to see so much pain and violence. Check on the people you love, and always choose kindness.”
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.
Roberts and Tanner, who was the only non-relative, were killed outside the home, Lorah said.
The police chief hasn't said what the gunman's possible motives were, but he suggested that his mental health could have been a factor. He said investigators would talk to relatives and examine the cellphones of the women who were killed outside the home.
Erie is about 120 miles (190 kilometers) north of Pittsburgh.
