Pennsylvania shooting: Five killed, two wounded, police search for two gunmen
Five are dead after two unidentified shooters attacked a backyard party in Wilkinsburg late Wednesday night, reported police in Allegheny County, Pa.
Four people, three women and a man, were pronounced dead at the scene, while an additional female victim died at the UPMC Mercy hospital. Two men are still in critical condition and one woman is in stable condition.
Lt. Andrew Schurman of the county’s homicide unit said in a statement, “It would appear from early examination of the scene that a backyard party/cookout was being held at the rear of the home. The ballistic evidence on the scene leads police to believe that two different weapons were discharged from two different people.”
Photo/Minnesota Historical Society via wikimedia commons
Schurman detailed how shots were fired from an alley to the rear of the property, and that “partygoers appeared to try to run into the residence at which point a person on the side or backyard adjacent to the residence fired at the back porch.”
“All four of the individuals who died at the scene died on that back porch,” Schurman added.
Neighbors reported gunshots and screams could be heard around 11 p.m., police reported and was confirmed in various reports by the press. Police also stated that they believe there were two, and only two, suspects, both on foot at the time of the shooting.
The identities of the deceased victims were not immediately released.
Neighbors told local media outlets that they heard between 20 and 25 gunshots.
“It went on for almost a minute,” James Boyd told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “I thought it was maybe the pipes bursting. But then we realized it was gunshots. We’ve had trouble in this neighborhood before but never this close to home.”
Crime Scene Tape photo/edited pic from FBI.gov
