Erie Shooting Leaves Nine Dead as Police Investigate Suspected Murder-Suicide

The shooting began on Friday, October 9, in Erie, Pennsylvania. According to Mint, police responded to a home on Perry Street around 5 p.m. after witnesses reported seeing a gunman firing outside before entering the residence.

Two women were found dead in the street, CBS Top Stories reported. Coverage also identified two children and a pregnant woman among those killed, according to the New York Post.

After opening fire outside, the gunman took refuge in a home, Infobae reported in its account of the October 9 attack.

A police confrontation then lasted several hours, according to RT en Español. TMZ reported that the gunman took his own life during the standoff.

By Saturday morning, October 10, Erie officials had confirmed that nine people had died, The Hill reported. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro described the incident as a mass shooting.

The reported death toll needs a distinction: the Associated Press said police counted eight people killed, with the shooter also dead. TMZ, by contrast, reported nine people fatally shot before the gunman killed himself. Those accounts conflict on whether nine deaths includes the shooter.

The clearest official accounting in the supplied coverage is eight victims and the shooter, making nine deaths in total. The city said there was no threat to the public, according to the Associated Press.

The attack is being treated in coverage as a suspected murder-suicide. Authorities have released few details, and ABCNews.com reported that police were looking for clues. No motive has been provided in the coverage.

The unresolved questions include the motive, the relationships between the shooter and those killed, and a fuller official account of the sequence of events. The Associated Press reported that authorities had not provided further details, leaving those central parts of the investigation unclear.