A 45-year-old man shot and killed seven relatives and a family friend at a home in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Friday before apparently killing himself, police said. The victims included a five-year-old boy, a one-year-old girl and a woman who was eight months pregnant. Authorities have not publicly identified them.

Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah said officers were called at about 5pm on Friday after reports of gunfire. They found two women, aged 37 and 51, dead in the street outside the house. Video footage showed the women arriving at the residence in apparent distress, pounding on the door and trying to alert neighbors. Police believe the man came out of the house, exchanged words with them and shot them before going back inside. Drones and a robot were used to locate further victims inside, after which specialist officers entered the building. They found six more victims, ranging in age from 19 to 44 for the adults, along with the gunman, who is believed to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Lorah said no officer fired a weapon.

The motive remains unclear. Lorah said it was premature to discuss it, though he believed mental health problems may have played a role. The suspect had a history with law enforcement, but its nature has not been explained. "They knew something was going on at that house. We have to figure out what that is," Lorah said. He described the scene as the worst he had witnessed.

Erie, a city of just over 90,000 people on the shore of Lake Erie in the northwest corner of Pennsylvania, is now grieving. Mayor Daria Devlin spoke of a community in pain, naming neighbors who witnessed events, the families of the dead, and the officers and first responders who answered the calls. Local media reported that responding officers were being offered counseling. Devlin also defended the city against criticism that it was slow to release details, saying that some relatives who lived at the home had been away and officials had to speak to them before the news became public. Governor Josh Shapiro said he had pledged the state's full support to the mayor.

The Gun Violence Archive, a nonpartisan tracker, counts the killings as at least the 19th mass murder in the US this year, defined as four or more people killed. Many of those cases involved attackers killing close family members. The archive also records more than 500 mass shootings since January, defined as four or more people shot. Such attacks regularly renew calls for stricter gun laws, but efforts to tighten firearm restrictions at the federal level have repeatedly failed to pass Congress.