4 Dead In Collier Township Gym Shooting; Gunman Kills Self, Officials Say
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/20283352/detail.htmlCOLLIER TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Four people are confirmed dead -- including the gunman -- after a shooting at the LA Fitness gym in Collier Township, emergency officials told WTAE Channel 4 Action News. Witnesses described seeing people covered in blood in a shooting that may have involved more than one location.
A police official said the gunman armed with a handgun fatally shot himself, and shot and wounded as many as nine others shortly after 8:15 p.m.
WTAE Channel 4 Action News has received reports that victims were being transported to St. Clair Hospital, and a representative from UPMC-Mercy in Pittsburgh told WTAE Channel 4 Action News that the hospital is treating five women who were shot multiple times, all of whom were in critical condition.
Dozens of police cars and ambulances were called to the gym at the Great Southern Shopping Center at 1155 Washington Pike.
Witnesses told a WTAE Channel 4 Action News crew first at the scene that a man unrecognized by the gym's staff turned off lights and shot people in a Latin dance class in the aerobics center at the time of the shooting.
"I heard about 10 shots. I ran out. Most people were yelling," said Brad Bolt, a witness.
A woman in the class at the time of the shooting, identified as Nicole, told WTAE Channel 4 Action News that the class had started about 10 minutes before the gunfire. She said about 30 people -- all women -- were in the class when "a middle-aged white male walked into the class. He had a big gym bag."
"He looked out of place in a class full of women," according to the witness, who said the man put his bag down, turned the lights off and opened fire.
The woman said she ran out of the gym as quickly as she could and got into a stranger's car to escape the gunfire.
WTAE Channel 4's Shannon Perrine was told the gym was well attended at the time of the shooting, possibly by as many as 100 people. Witnesses said people inside the gym took off running amid the gunshots.
"I turned around there was one girl shot in the thigh and one girl shot in the back," said Branson Holly, a witness inside the gym at the time of the shooting. "I’m still shaken because I was in spinning class and it could have been my class."
Former WTAE Channel 4 Action News photographer Gary O'Data said at 9:10 p.m. that the entire shopping center was shut down. He reported seeing as many as 15 ambulances and at least 20 police cars. Clerks at neighboring stores told WTAE Channel 4 Action News that they locked their doors as a precaution.
"They have the back, front and all four corners of the building cordoned off," WTAE Channel 4's Scott Stiller reported from Sky 4.
Stiller reported seeing a police response from Bridgeville, Scott Township, Collier Township, Upper St. Clair and Mount Lebanon, among others. Allegheny County police and officials from the Medical Examiner's Office were also called to the scene.
The gym had just opened last summer after a large fire gutted a portion of the shopping center.
