A Shooting In Pittsburgh And Some People Have Died

A gunman opened fire in the lobby of a psychiatric hospital in Pittsburgh on Thursday, killing one person and wounding seven, including a police officer, officials said. The gunman was also said to have died.

The shooting, at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, part of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, began around 1:40 p.m., when a man carrying two semiautomatic pistols walked through the front door, Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said at a press briefing. 

The gunman was not identified. Victims included members of the hospital staff and at least one visitor, hospital officials said. Mr. Ravenstahl said that the authorities could not yet say which gun or guns killed the gunman and the dead victim, who was also not identified. Both were said to be adult men. 

“This is a tragic day, a sad day, a senseless day in many ways,” Mr. Ravenstahl said. 

Early reports of a second gunman turned out to be false, Mr. Ravenstahl said. The confusion apparently stemmed from reports that there was also shooting on the second floor, and Mr. Ravenstahl said the police were still trying to determine whether that was true. 

“It appears at this point that he acted alone,” Mr. Ravenstahl said of the gunman.

Donald M. Yealy, chief of emergency medicine at the medical center, said two of the victims were in intensive care, two had been released from the hospital, and three were still being treated. In all, at least four would require surgery, he said, but he added that he expected all of the injured to survive. 

The police officer who was wounded was just grazed, Mr. Ravenstahl said.

The Associated Press quoted Gregory Brant, a man who was in a waiting room when gunfire erupted. Mr. Brant said he and six other people in the room heard the shots and barricaded themselves inside but did not feel safe because there were doors with windows along adjacent walls. 

He said that they felt like “sitting ducks” but that luckily the gunman did not see them. He said the ordeal lasted about 20 minutes. 

The hospital’s approximately 300 patients were not evacuated, hospital officials said, and care continued without interruption. 

The Western Psychiatric Institute is an academic-based psychiatric care facility that houses the psychology department for the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, according to its Web site.