Father of toddler killed in Erie mass shooting says reported gunman never seemed distressed or out of the ordinary

The man who killed eight people, before turning the gun on himself, in a mass shooting in a home in Erie, Pennsylvania, on Friday was a grandfather who had not shown signs that he was capable of such violence, according to people who knew the shooter.

A man whose toddler was among those killed said on Sunday that the man never seemed distressed or out of the ordinary, the Associated Press reports.

Republican Christopher Paul is running unopposed for seat despite allegations he raped two girls 20 years ago

A candidate for police chief in a small Louisiana town candidate is on course to be elected unopposed despite two charges of child rape pending against him, leaving his community to weigh whether to convert the position into an appointed office rather than one determined at the ballot box.

Christopher Paul, a Republican who on 6 August signed up to run for chief of police in the south-western Louisiana village of Elizabeth, was arrested on 8 September on allegations that he raped two girls in 2005 and 2006.

Deceased were all members of the same family, officials say, and one of victims placed the initial emergency call

Five people were shot and killed in an apparent murder-suicide at a residence in Georgia on Friday, authorities say.

The deceased were family members who lived at the home in Douglas, a city in south Georgia.

10-year police veteran Shane Seiber was killed after responding to a report of a man with a gun

A Philadelphia police officer was fatally shot and another was wounded on Saturday after responding to a report of a man with a gun, authorities said.

Shane Seiber, 40, was killed early on Saturday morning in West Philadelphia, according to the city’s police commissioner, Kevin Bethel.

ICE official, who was sleeping on man’s lawn and appeared ‘intoxicated’, faces felony charges, California police say

A 72-year-old man shot an off-duty Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official in California early on Friday morning after the “intoxicated and agitated” official assaulted him and his daughter on their property, local authorities allege.

The Fresno police department said that the ICE official was receiving medical care after being shot in the midsection. The official, identified as David Gonzalez, is facing felony charges for assaulting the father-daughter duo, Fresno police said.

Authorities say suspect among dead in house after standoff with police in Erie and there is no ongoing threat

A man fatally shot eight people, including a pregnant woman and children, at a Pennsylvania residence on Friday before killing himself, police say.

The victims have not been publicly identified, but seven relatives and a family friend died in the rampage.

Motorist, reportedly trying to beat a traffic light, barrels through busy intersection and slams into pedestrians

At least one person was killed and nine injured in New York City’s eastern Bronx when a motorist barreled through a busy intersection, slammed into pedestrians and triggered a chain-reaction crash involving several vehicles, according to authorities and media reports.

The horrifying collision happened shortly after 2pm in the Bronx’s Allerton neighborhood, with the driver at the center of the crash reportedly saying he was trying to beat a traffic light.

Actor was robbed of his watch after being struck in the head by two attackers wielding a gun and a knife

The Pretty Little Liars actor Keegan Allen was battered and robbed by attackers wielding a knife and gun in West Hollywood, he said on Thursday in a social media video showing him bloodied and alarmed.

The Los Angeles county sheriff’s department confirmed in a statement shared with news outlets that it was investigating a violent robbery matching the weapons, block and time described by Allen on social media, where users responded with shock and supportive comments.

Pentagon said execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, who killed 13 people at Fort Hood in 2009, would be broadcast live

• US politics live – latest updates

The US is facing worldwide condemnation over a “barbaric” plan to execute a disabled man by firing squad and livestream it to the public, with critics comparing the Trump administration to dictatorships in Iran and Afghanistan.

The Pentagon confirmed on Thursday that the execution of Nidal Malik Hasan, convicted of killing 13 people at a military base at Fort Hood in Texas in 2009, would be livestreamed on 3 December.

Flowers, tried six times over 1996 murders of four people, faced execution before supreme court tossed his conviction

Curtis Flowers, a Black man who spent more than 22 years in prison and was on death row in Mississippi before the US supreme court threw out his conviction and death sentence, has died. He was 56.

Flowers’ family confirmed that he died on Wednesday at his home in Mississippi, attorney Rob McDuff told the Associated Press on Thursday.

Lawyers for Christa Pike, who survived two lethal injections, gave updates on her condition, saying she is severely unwell, and ‘angry and confused about everything right now’. Following a court hearing on Wednesday, a judge ordered Tennessee officials to preserve all evidence from the botched execution