Reuters - Four shot dead at Pennsylvania gym

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Four shot dead at Pennsylvania gym

Wednesday, Aug 05, 2009 12:44PM UTC

By Jonathan Barnes

BRIDGEVILLE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) - A man walked into a suburban Pittsburgh gym on Tuesday evening and opened fire in a Latin dance class, killing three women before turning his weapon on himself and taking his own life, police said.

Allegheny County Police Superintendent Charles Moffatt told reporters outside the L.A. Fitness Center gym in Collier Township, about 10 miles south of Pittsburgh, that the gunman entered the gym shortly after 8 p.m. EDT and opened fire in a rampage that left at least 10 people wounded.

"He did not say anything. He walked into the room as if he knew where he was going and pulled out the guns and began shooting," Moffatt said, adding that police found two guns at the scene.

Moffatt said the three victims were all women and that there were between 60 and 70 people at the facility at the time of the shooting.

Early media reports said there were five dead.

A couple, who said they are members of the gym and were working out, said the gunman was bald and wore a black bandanna. The couple said he walked into a Latin dance class, turned off the lights and opened fire.

The witnesses said he fired repeatedly for what they said was about 10 seconds, before shooting himself in the head. The witnesses, who declined to give their names and were visibly shaken, said the man used a handgun.

"I saw (the gunman) with a chunk of his head blown off," the male witness said.

(Writing by Mark Egan; Editing by Peter Cooney and Vicki Allen)