Nine dead in a mass shooting in Erie, Pennsylvania, including the gunman
City officials in Erie said Saturday that nine people were dead after a shooting on Friday night, NBC News and The Hill reported. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro described it as a mass shooting, and AP reported that the suspected shooter was also dead. USA Today’s headline counted the suspect among the nine; The New York Times and The Washington Post had first reported eight dead. WTAE reported that police called it a horrific scene with two small children among the victims, and ABC News reported a pregnant woman among them. The Post said it appeared to have happened at a home and that authorities had given few details. Reuters and The Guardian also carried the nine-dead count. Separately, The Guardian, The New York Times and USA Today reported that Georgia police said five family members died in an apparent murder-suicide.
The count of dead makes it among the deadliest shootings of the year in the region, and two of the victims were small children. Coverage so far does not say what led to it, so no one should assume a motive.
For readers in northwest Pennsylvania, officials’ updates and the Erie police department are the sources to follow. For everyone else, the story is a reminder to treat early counts as provisional: this one moved from eight to nine in hours.
The facts that matter are still missing: who the victims were, who the shooter was and what led to it. Until police release them, treat any social-media account of a motive as unverified.
DailyDrop U.S. No. 7 · October 11, 2026