A pregnant Pennsylvania woman shared two stark social media posts before an Erie mass shooting claimed her life, her children’s lives and those of several relatives.
Stone was days away from delivering her third child when police say her father killed eight people before turning the weapon on himself. Her unborn baby also died, according to relatives and local media.
Authorities have not established whether her posts had any connection to the killings. One of them was on the day she was killed.
“Don’t cry when I die; I hated it here,” Angelina Stone wrote on Oct. 3.
On Friday, she posted another message: “I never needed anyone on my team. I stand alone regardless!”
As investigators work to establish what led to the Pennsylvania mass shooting, District Attorney Elizabeth Hirz urged the public not to compound the family’s grief with rumors.
“Please do not allow rumors, speculation or unverified information to add to the pain that these families are already experiencing,” Hirz said, according to the Associated Press.
Police say a 45-year-old man killed seven relatives and a friend of his pregnant daughter before dying by suicide on Friday. Authorities have not announced a motive or publicly identified the suspected gunman.
Police Chief Rick Lorah said investigators plan to interview additional relatives and examine the cellphones of two women the gunman killed outside the home.
“They knew something was going on at that house,” Lorah said. “We have to figure out what that is.”
The shooting unfolded shortly before 5 p.m. at a home on Perry Road in Erie, a city about 120 miles north of Pittsburgh. Investigators reviewed video and audio evidence and heard what sounded like muffled gunfire inside the home before two women arrived and began pounding on the door.
The women, described by police as “distressed,” were shot when the gunman came outside, Lorah said. He then returned indoors.
Officers arrived within minutes of receiving an alert from ShotSpotter, a gunshot-detection system that uses microphones and artificial intelligence to identify possible gunfire. Police found the two women dead outside the house.
“When we arrived on scene, we did not hear a gunshot. We did not hear a cry for help. We did not see movement inside. Had any of those been heard, we would have made entry immediately. Those officers were met with an eerie silence when they got there,” Lorah said.
After deploying a drone and a robot, officers entered the residence. They found a 5-year-old boy and a girl described in the initial police account as a 1-year-old on the first floor. Officers found two additional women and two young men in a stairwell. They discovered the suspected gunman dead on the second floor, the New York Post reported.
Angelina Stone has a photo of a teenage boy on her page who graduated in June 2024. His name is Matthew Scott Stone II.
“Out of respect for the victims and the families, I will not discuss the details of what our officers encountered inside that home,” Lorah said at a news conference. “But I want our community to understand the gravity of what happened and the profound impact this tragedy has had on those involved and on our community as a whole.”
Lorah also clarified that sounds some people might have mistaken for additional gunfire came from police operations. Police recovered a .40 caliber handgun on the scene. It had a partially full magazine still inside it and an empty gun magazine. Lorah confirmed that the man registered the gun in his name.
“Sounds that may have been mistaken for gunfire came from flashbang devices — chemical munitions — used by SWAT officers,” he said.
Stone’s two other children, Isiah and Amari’anna, also died. Relatives said the unborn baby, whom Stone had named Kyrie, was due Wednesday.
A fundraiser established for the family described the devastating loss. “Angelina’s father killed Angelina and her children in a murder-suicide, and now our family is facing the painful task of laying them to rest,” it said. By Monday afternoon, it had raised nearly $37,000.
The father of one of Stone’s children described his grief to Erie News Now.
“It was my baby, bro, and he just took her,” Ezekiel said. “Her name was Amari’anna. She’s the most beautiful baby God could have created.”
Lisa Simmers, a relative, told the outlet that the children had done nothing to deserve their fate.
“They are all just beautiful children and definitely did not deserve what happened to them.”
Another fundraiser honored Lora Roberts, identified by organizers as one of those killed, as “a loving mother of five, a devoted fiancée, a cherished daughter.”
Erie Mayor Daria Devlin addressed the victims’ relatives at a news conference, offering condolences and promising community support.
“I am so deeply sorry. What happened to you was horrific, and there is nothing that any of us can say today that will make this any easier,” she said. “But you do need to know that our entire community is with you, we’re grieving with you. And we are here to support you.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro said he had offered his administration’s “full support” to the mayor.
“Today has been a dark day across this commonwealth,” Shapiro said.
