Pennsylvania shooter who killed 8 was family’s patriarch, father of slain toddler says

ERIE, Pa. — 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.”

9 people dead in Pennsylvania mass shooting

“Words can’t even explain what I’m going through right now,” Windham said.

Original source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health