In a chilling turn of events, a video captured the panic that ensued as people fled from a house in Erie, Pennsylvania, where a grandfather had tragically taken the lives of nine individuals, spanning three generations of his family.
The doorbell footage shows a couple of women rushing across a yard on Perry Street on Friday, drawn to a commotion, when suddenly, a piercing scream of “Oh my God!” interrupts the scene.
Amidst the chaos, the women can be heard sprinting back, children screaming in the background. One person shouts at neighbors to retreat to their homes, just as the video abruptly ends.
The gunman was identified by police on Monday as 45-year-old Matthew Stone Sr. He killed three generations of his family and two family friends before taking his own life.
Victims included his wife, 44-year-old Michelle Stone, and three children: Matthew Jr., 21, Jonathan, 19, and Angelina Stone, 24, who was due to give birth to her third child, Kyrie, within days. Tragically, Kyrie was counted among the deceased.
Additionally, Stone slaughtered Angelina’s young children, 5-year-old Isiah and 1-year-old Amari’anna, as well as two women, Lora Roberts, 37, and Twila Tanner, 51, who attempted to intervene.
Police are still investigating the motive behind this horrific act. They suggested that mental health might have played a role, and have been gathering information from relatives to piece together what led to the tragedy.
The shooting happened shortly before 5 p.m. on Friday, in a residential area about 100 miles southwest of Buffalo.
Authorities mentioned that they had reviewed footage indicating gunshots were fired inside the home before Roberts and Tanner, visibly distressed, knocked on the door for help.
According to reports, the shooter emerged and killed both women before returning inside, where he took his own life in an upstairs room.
Police arrived at a horrifying scene. They found Roberts and Tanner deceased outside, while on the first floor, the bodies of Isiah and Amari’anna were discovered.
In total, two women and two men were found dead in a stairwell, and the shooter was found upstairs.
“It was horrifying. The worst scene I have ever witnessed,” Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah remarked during a heartfelt press conference.
Roberts had often visited the household, assisting her niece and neighbor Angelina with her pregnancy, while Tanner was the only one not related to the family caught up in the violence.
