A New Year’s Day shooting on Erie’s west side has turned into the city’s first homicide of 2025.
A 20-year-old woman whom police said was shot in the head early Wednesday morning was pronounced dead on Wednesday at 4:41 p.m. at UPMC Hamot, Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook said Thursday afternoon.
Cook said he ruled the woman’s death a homicide. An autopsy will be scheduled, he said.
The woman, whose name was not released by authorities Thursday, was one of two people shot in the 900 block of West 19th Street. The shooting was reported on Wednesday at 12:37 a.m., according to police.
Erie police Deputy Chief Rick Lorah said Wednesday it appeared the woman and a 22-year-old man, whose name also was not released, were leaving a house party at a residence in the 900 block of West 19th Street when someone opened fire, shooting the woman in the head and the man in the leg.
Emergency responders who were called to the area after numerous calls were made to 911 about shots being fired found the woman and rushed her to the hospital. The man went to the hospital by private vehicle and was treated and released, Lorah said Wednesday.