ERIE, PA – Authorities identified the adult victims and the suspected gunman who were found dead after what police described as a “horrific” mass shooting at a home near Lake Erie.
Police say on Oct. 9, a gunman fatally shot eight people, most of them relatives, including two young children and a pregnant woman. Authorities say the suspected shooter took his own life before police arrived. The victims included the suspect’s wife, children and grandchildren, according to officials.
Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook on Oct. 12 identified the adult victims as Twila Tanner, 51; Angelina Stone, 24, who was eight months pregnant; Jonathan Stone, 19; Matthew Stone Jr., 21; Michelle Stone, 44; and Lora Roberts, 37, reported the Erie Times-News, part of the USA TODAY Network.
Cook identified the suspect as Matthew Stone Sr., 45
Cook told the Erie Times-News he is not permitted to release the names of the other two shooting victims, a 5-year-old boy and a girl who was 22 months old, because they are under 18. Erie police also did not release the names of the children.
Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah said the suspect shot and killed six people inside the house on the evening of Oct. 9. The gunman then allegedly met two other women, including a family friend, outside the home after they arrived in a “state of distress,” Lorah said, citing surveillance video. The gunman allegedly shot the two women before he reentered the home and shot himself, according to the police chief.
Authorities have not determined a motive for the incident, which police are treating as a domestic situation because many of the victims are related and lived in the same home.
Cook ruled the death of Matthew Stone Sr. as a suicide and the deaths of the others as homicides. All but Lora Roberts were pronounced dead at the scene, according to Cook.
All members of the Stone family, as well as the two young children, lived at the home where the shooting occurred.
Police said the suspect was married to Michelle Stone. Matthew Stone Jr., Jonathan Stone and Angelina Stone were their children, according to Erie police. The 5-year-old boy and the 22-month-old girl were Angelina Stone’s children, police said.
No autopsies were performed on any of the victims or the suspect.
Lorah said officers recovered a handgun that was legally registered to the suspect. He said the suspected shooter last interacted with police in 2022 but did not provide any further information.
“I think mental health is at play here, but I think it is too soon to really go into a motive,” Lorah said.
He said the crime scene was the “worst” he had ever seen in his many years working in law enforcement.
“It was horrific,” he said.
Contributing: Trevor Hughes, USA TODAY; Ed Palattella, Erie Times-News
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