A gunman who opened fire after entering the lobby of a psychiatric hospital at the University of Pittsburgh on Thursday was armed with two semi-automatic handguns during a shooting that left two people, including the gunman, dead and several wounded, the mayor said.
Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said the man exchanged gunfire with police and was shot dead on Thursday, but not before one other person was killed and seven others were hurt, apparently by his gunfire. One injured person was not hurt by gunfire.
The mayor stopped short of confirming the gunman was fatally shot by a University of Pittsburgh police officer. However, he did say that “police acted admirably and did engage in gunfire.”
One of the injured was a police officer who Ravenstahl said was grazed by a bullet. Officials are not saying if the officer shot the gunman.
Gregory Brant said he was in a waiting room on the first floor of the clinic building when pandemonium broke out.
“We heard a bunch of yelling, some shooting, people yelling, ‘Hide! Hide!’” he said. “Everyone’s yelling, ‘Stay down!’”
Brant, 53, and six other people, including a young girl and her parents, barricaded themselves inside the waiting room, but he said they did not feel safe because there were doors with windows along adjacent walls.
The group crouched in a corner, hoping the gunman wouldn’t see them as he went past, Brant said. The men in the group decided on the spot that if the gunman entered the room, they would rush him.
“We were kind of sitting ducks,” Brant said. “Luckily, he didn’t see us in there and we didn’t make eye contact with him.”
Neighboring buildings were placed on lockdown for hours.
An official said media reports about a possible second gunman and a hostage situation at the clinic or at UPMC Presbyterian hospital were unfounded.
A SWAT team was on the scene shortly after the shooting. A street was blocked off and the area thronged with police. Most students were on spring break, though offices and buildings had been open.
The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center said it had received some patients from the shooting. It said two patients were in intensive care, two has been released and three were being admitted. All were expected to survive.
The clinic, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, is affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and one of several affiliated hospitals adjacent to the university campus.
Pete Finelli, who lives two blocks from the clinic and once worked there as a student nursing assistant, said security guards are always at the part of the building where it the shooting is believed to have occurred, on the ground floor.
Patient rooms are on the upper floors, he said, but anyone on the first floor would have to be someone being either admitted or discharged, he added.
“The only place a person would be on the first floor is the emergency room,” he said.
Pitt sent out e-mail and text alerts shortly after 2pm to warn people of the shooting.
“An active shooter has been identified at Western Psychiatric Institute. Several injured,” the alert said. “Possible second actor in Western Psych. Lockdown recommended until further notice. If safe to do so, tell others of this message.”
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
‘POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE’: Leo Varadkar said he was ‘no longer the best person’ to lead the nation and was stepping down for political, as well as personal, reasons Leo Varadkar on Wednesday announced that he was stepping down as Ireland’s prime minister and leader of the Fine Gael party in the governing coalition, citing “personal and political” reasons. Pundits called the surprise move, just 10 weeks before Ireland holds European Parliament and local elections, a “political earthquake.” A general election has to be held within a year. Irish Deputy Prime Minister Micheal Martin, leader of Fianna Fail, the main coalition partner, said Varadkar’s announcement was “unexpected,” but added that he expected the government to run its full term. An emotional Varadkar, who is in his second stint as prime minister and at
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia