Nine people, including two children, were killed in a mass shooting in the US city of Erie, Pennsylvania, on Friday. 

Erie officials confirmed on Saturday morning that nine people had been found dead at the scene. They said officers arrived within minutes of receiving a ShotSpotter alert, but investigators determined that all the deaths had occurred before law enforcement arrived.

Witnesses told authorities they had seen an armed individual outside a property before he went inside.

Responding officers found two women dead in the street, both with fatal gunshot wounds.

The incident then escalated into a standoff, with police and tactical personnel surrounding the residence. After additional gunshots were heard from inside, officers entered the home, where they found seven more victims, including children, as well as the suspected gunman.

Erie Police Chief Rick Lorah confirmed that the suspected gunman was also found dead. Investigators believe he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Figures from the Gun Violence Archive indicate that the killings in Erie marked at least the 19th mass murder in the United States this year.

Many such cases have involved what are known as family annihilations, in which perpetrators kill multiple members of their own families.

The archive also reported more than 500 mass shootings across the United States since the beginning of January.

Mass shootings are defined as incidents in which four or more people are shot, whether fatally or non-fatally.

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Gun violence in the US has become so pervasive and routine that it no longer shocks the public, with shootings occurring almost daily and affecting every kind of space -- from schools, universities, and hospitals to shopping malls, nightclubs, sports venues, and private homes --yet the crisis continues unabated.

There are an estimated 393 million civilian-owned firearms in the US. Approximately one-third of the adult population in the United States, which equates to 82,880,000 people, own at least one firearm.