In Pittsburgh’s North Side, a shooting was carried out in the wee hours of the morning this past Easter Sunday that left two dead and a sizable number of others injured in its wake.
As stated in various reports from local law enforcement officials, the shooting happened at roughly 12:30 a.m. local time at an AirBNB rental property out in Deutschtown, which is an area located in the East Allegheny neighborhood of the city.
As reported by the Associated Press:
Shots fired at a house party in Pittsburgh early Sunday left two minors dead and at least nine more people injured, police said.
The shooting happened around 12:30 a.m. during a party at a short-term rental property where there were more than 200 people inside — many of them underage, Pittsburgh police said in a news release. At least 11 people were being treated for gunshot wounds and two male victims died at the hospital, police said.
Pittsburgh police confirm two juveniles have died and at least nine other people were shot overnight at a party at an AirBnB. At least 50 shots were fired. https://t.co/SivEK05qiq
— WTHR.com (@WTHRcom) April 17, 2022
Cara Cruz, a Spokeswoman for Pittsburgh Public Safety, stated that in addition to various gunshot wounds, quite a few people were seen with injuries acquired in their attempts to flee the area, namely, a few breaking bones as they leaped from multi-story windows.
She highlighted that as police officers made it to the scene, they spotted people “running and driving away from the scene” as even more shots were flying through the air in the area.
Julian Routh, with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, issued quite a few updates coming from local law enforcement officials, highlighting that the building had been rented out previously for various parties without seeing any major incidents take place and that police had actually been to the scene before the shooting took place that day.
A video of the incident appeared to show a party attendee shouting, "He's got a gun!" and urging others to head for the doors.
What sounded like a # of rapid gunshots could be heard shortly after as attendees — packed shoulder to shoulder, many screaming — rushed to exit.
— Julian Routh (@julianrouth) April 17, 2022
“A video of the incident appeared to show a party attendee shouting, ‘He’s got a gun!’ and urging others to head for the doors,” stated Routh in a tweet. “What sounded like a # of rapid gunshots could be heard shortly after as attendees — packed shoulder to shoulder, many screaming — rushed to exit.”
Ed Gainey, the Mayor of Pittsburgh who was stuck in his home due to a recent COVID-19 diagnosis on Friday, issued a response via a released statement.
“First and foremost, our hearts and our prayers go out to the victims’ families, their loved ones, and our entire city today. Thank you to our first responders, our public safety officials, and to all the hospital and EMS workers providing care to the victims,” stated Gainey who then took time to ask the public for assistance in finding out anyone who had been connected with the horrible incident.
“At least 10 gunshot victims, two lives lost, and hundreds of lives forever changed, because we have yet to pass meaningful legislation to lessen the amount of guns in our streets or provide the much-needed resources to communities desperately need,” continued the Mayor. “The time is now for us to move with a sense of urgency to bring justice to the victims and peace to our city.”
Gainey finished by issuing a call to action in the fighting of gun violence in general by stating that he now planned to meet with various public safety officials and leaders within the community in efforts to create the best path forward.
“It is critical that we come together now to help reduce the violence currently happening while we begin to do the long-term work of ending the culture of violence that is enabling the senseless loss of life we are experiencing today,” he concluded.