“With Survivors, Always” is the theme for 2026 Domestic Violence Awareness Month, continuing a focus on actionable unity and removing barriers to domestic safety. This Thursday, October 15, is Purple Thursday, the national day of action supporting victims of domestic violence. On the third Thursday of each October, schools, churches, offices, and neighbors are asked to wear purple, a color that stands for courage, survival, and honor. The observance is intended to show survivors they are not alone and to remember those who did not survive.

Close to home, on Friday, October 9, 2026, eight people were killed in an attack carried out by a family patriarch. By Sunday, the sidewalk outside the house on Perry Street where the crime occurred had become a shrine of candles, flowers, and stuffed animals. Julius Windham stood among them wearing a T-shirt printed with the faces of the family members he had lost, above the words “Forever In My Heart.”

His 1-year-old daughter, Amarianna, and his son were among the eight people killed by a 45-year-old gunman whom Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook identified as Matthew Stone Sr. The gunman later took his own life. Angelina Stone, 24, the children’s mother, and the baby she was due to deliver the following Monday were also killed.

Windham reportedly said the shooter, Matthew Stone Sr., was a grandfather and the head of the family. The other victims were Michelle Stone, 44; Matthew Stone, 21; Jonathan Stone, 19; and two women who lived at other addresses, Lora Roberts, 37, and Twila Tanner, 51. State law barred Cook from releasing the children’s names, but police said seven of the eight victims were the gunman’s relatives. The eighth was a friend of Angelina’s.

Windham told The Associated Press that the man he knew smiled every day and never seemed troubled. “I think that was a front for him,” Windham said.

Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah, who has spent nearly three decades in law enforcement, called it the worst crime he had encountered. He described it as “one of the most difficult and heartbreaking scenes” his officers had ever faced. Out of respect for the families, he declined to describe what they found inside the home.

On Saturday, Mayor Daria Devlin spoke directly to the families. She told them that the city was coordinating crisis counselors, health care providers, and schools to support families, students, and neighbors. Gov. Josh Shapiro called Devlin to offer his administration’s full support. “My heart breaks for this family,” Shapiro wrote.

Police have not classified the Erie shooting as domestic violence. But advocates for survivors recognize the pattern of this crime: a man turning a gun on the family he led, inside the home they shared. It happened in the middle of October, during Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

According to Women Against Abuse, Philadelphia police respond to more than 100,000 domestic-related 911 calls each year. More than 8,000 new Protection From Abuse cases were filed in Family Court in 2024, and 26 people in the city were killed by domestic violence that year. Statewide, the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence counted 99 domestic violence deaths in 2025.

Help is available in Spanish for Latino families. The Philadelphia Domestic Violence Hotline, at 1-866-723-3014, answers calls 24 hours a day and offers interpretation services.

Congreso de Latinos Unidos’ Latina Domestic Violence Program and Lutheran Settlement House’s bilingual program offer counseling and legal advocacy in North Philadelphia.

Emergency protection orders are available around the clock at the Criminal Justice Center, located at 1301 Filbert St.

No one should have to suffer in silence or wait until it is too late.