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Police: 5 dead, 3 injured in Pennsylvania shooting At least 5 shot dead, including 4 women, after ‘ambush’ at Pittsburgh-area backyard barbecue
(35 minutes later)
WILKINSBURG, Pa. — Five people have been killed in an ambush-style shooting during a backyard party in suburban Pittsburgh and at least two gunmen are at large, police said. At least five people were killed and three injured when a backyard barbecue was attacked in a Pittsburgh suburb Wednesday night. Two of those injured are in critical condition.
Four women and a man were killed late Wednesday during the party in the Borough of Wilkinsburg. Allegheny County police said people scrambled toward the house as bullets began flying. Four of the victims were found dead on the back porch. The other one died at a hospital. The mass shooting occurred just before 11 p.m. when a flurry of gunshots rang out over a quiet neighborhood of Wilkinsburg, Pa.
Three people were injured and taken to area hospitals. Two men were in critical condition and a woman was stable, police said. At least two gunmen fired from different angles at the party before fleeing on foot, according to Allegheny County Police.
At least two suspects fled on foot. A motive wasn’t immediately known. No one has been arrested.
Lt. Andrew Schurman of the Allegheny County homicide unit says the gunmen barged into the party and opened fire in an ambush-style attack. He said gunshots came from two distinct locations but police don’t believe anyone at the party fired back. Local television station WPXI described the mass shooting as an “ambush.”
“It looks like right now they were all fleeing toward the backdoor of the residence when the second gunman fired from the side of the yard,” he said. “They all seemed to get caught on the back porch.” “They were all fleeing towards the backdoor of the residence when the second gunman fired from the side of the yard, and they all seemed to get caught on the back porch,” said Allegheny County Police Lt. Andrew Schurman.
Resident Kayla Alexander told WPXI-TV that she heard a barrage of gunshots — more than 20 — in the neighborhood, which usually is quiet. Four people died on the back porch, Schurman said. A fifth victim died at a local hospital.
After the shooting, groups of residents gathered on the street, some of them sobbing and saying they lost family members. [Are mass shootings contagious? Some scientists who study how viruses spread say yes.]
Vehicles from the medical examiner’s office arrived in the neighborhood early Thursday to remove the victims’ bodies. The shooting occurred on an unusually warm evening in the Pittsburgh area.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. People had gathered in an enclosed backyard on Hazel Way when a gunman opened fire. As party-goers rushed towards the backdoor to flee the shooting, another gunman opened fire.
Local resident Kayla Alexander told WPXI she was walking home from work when she heard about 20 gunshots, then a pause, before another six shots echoed over the neighborhood.
“We do not believe, at this point, anybody that was in that backyard or an attendee of the party fired weapons in return,” Schurman added.
Hazel Way was littered with police evidence markers early Thursday morning. The markers were numbered to at least 40, suggesting the number of bullets fired upon the party.
The first 911 call came at 10:58 p.m., according to WPXI. Within minutes, more than a dozen police cars from various agencies and seven ambulances had responded to the scene.
Alexander said she was shocked and scared by the spurt of violence.
“This street is always quiet. There is nothing but kids on this street,” she told WPXI. “I’m shaken, so it’s pretty bad.”
About an hour after the mass shooting, family members of the victims began to arrive.
A woman in a pink hoodie fell to the ground, flailing and screaming before being restrained by relatives.
“My baby,” she shouted. “My baby.”