A madman with two guns opened fire in an all-female dance class at a Pennsylvania fitness center Tuesday night, killing three women and injuring as many as 10 others, police said.
Investigators said the gunman - described as a middle-aged white man - was among the dead, apparently a suicide.
The madman who fatally shot three women in a fitness center outside Pittsburgh planned the massacre for months and "chickened out" on at least one other attempt, his venom-spewing journal reveals.
George Sodini, 48, walked into a crowded 20-by-20 foot aerobics room at the LA Fitness gym in Collier, Pa., at about 8 p.m. Tuesday. He turned off the lights and fired as many as 50 rounds from at least two guns
without saying a word, police said.
Stacey Falk, 26, of Bridgeville, told the Post Gazette newspaper she was in the aerobics room with 30 to 40 other women when a short, clean-shaven man in gym clothes, walked in with a bag.
He stood in a corner near a racquetball court for a moment, put down the bag, turned off the lights and pulled out a gun.
"Girls were just ducking behind each other. All I could hear were shots and screams," Falk said.
The aerobics class instructor, who announced she was pregnant, was shot in the shoulder.
"I saw these women running out of the aerobics room, hysterical," said Ron Michaels, a racketball instructor. "I think I saw three or four injured people being taken to ambulances after I was out in the parking lot," he said.
Many of the survivors credited the the staff of the fitness center staff, which opened just a year ago, with calmly steering people toward the exits.
When the massacre ended, Sodini lay dead on top of a gun near one of his victims. Sources told the Pittsburgh Gazette Soldini's girlfriend was among the dead.
Witnesses said he strode into the LA Fitness center in Bridgeville, a suburb of , through a back door about 8:15 p.m., carrying a duffel bag, and went straight to the Latin dance class on the first floor.
"He did not say anything," Allegheny County policeSuperintendent Charles Moffatt said. "He walked right into the room where the shootings occurred as if he knew exactly where he was going."
About 30 women were in the class when a witness identified only as Nicole said the killer turned off the lights, pulled two guns from the bag and started blasting.
"He got off a lot of shots," she said. "People everywhere were screaming. It was horrible."
Lauren Dooley, 26, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette she was on a treadmill listening to her iPod when the shooting started.
"I saw people flying off the treadmills, hitting the ground" for cover, Dooley said. "We crawled through the fire escape, and I sprinted out the back."
She said she heard 12 to 15 shots.
A man who was playing racquetball said the scene was total chaos.
"It was panic," said Perry Calabro, 53, "when we realized it was gunfire. Once the shooting started, everybody started running."
The shooting brought ambulances and police cars flooding into the crime scene area, which is part of the Great Southern Shopping Center strip mall.
For months before the killing spree, Sodini kept a log of his plans, filled with rage and hatred for women.
-Alleged George Sodine , the gunman responsible for the LA fitness gym massacre.Committed suicide after the rampage.-
"Why do this?? To young girls? Just read below," he wrote. "I kept a running log that includes my thoughts and actions, after I saw this project was going to drag on."
The log shows he entered the club with loaded guns on Jan. 6, but backed out.
"It is 8:45PM: I chickened out!" he wrote. "I brought the loaded guns, everything. Hell!"
The journal drips with rage and names relatives and acquaintances. It also shows his frustration at not being able to connect with women.
On Aug. 3 he wrote: "I took off today, Monday, and tomorrow to practice my routine and make sure it is well polished. I need to work out every detail, there is only one shot. Also I need to be completely immersed into something before I can be successful. I haven't had a drink since Friday about 2:30. Total effort needed. Tomorrow is the big day."
In a Web site posted under his name, Sodini wrote rambling messages about his hatred of women and how he was tired of being rejected by them. He ended by writing, "Death Lives!"
Sodini was a member of the gym and lived in Carnegie, just a few miles from the health club, authorities said.
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People outside the LA Fitness following a shooting inside the health club. Investigators said the gunman - described as a middle-aged white man - was among the dead, apparently a suicide.
Friends waiting to hear news about victims of a shooting at a health club outside of Pittsburgh keep a vigil outside the scene of the massacre Tuesday night.
Authorities are at the scene of a shooting at an LA Fitness gym near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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-From CNN: 5 Killed 15 Wounded In Gym [LA Fitness] Shooting In Pennsylvania-
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---Three bodies were removed early Wednesday from the L.A. Fitness Center in Bridgeville.
A woman with a chest wound died at St. Clair Hospital, where two other female victims were in stable condition.
Five victims arrived in critical condition at UPMC Mercy Hospital, and two women were listed in fair condition at Allegheny General Hospital, hospital officials said.
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Here is alleged George Sodini , online web diary entries.]
In a Web site posted under his name, Sodini wrote rambling messages about his hatred of women and how he was tired of being rejected by them. He ended by writing, "Death Lives!"
Sodini was a member of the gym and lived in Carnegie, just a few miles from the health club, authorities said.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/08/05/2009-08-05_gunman_in_pittsburgh_gym_massacre_george_sodini_planned_shooting_for_months_his.html#ixzz0NKEzrxQe
August 3:
“Total effort needed. Tomorrow is the big day. Unfortunately I talked to my neighbor today, who is very positive and upbeat. I need to remain focused and absorbed COMPLETELY.
“Last time I tried this, in January, I chickened out.”
George Sodini says the reason for his diary is that “maybe all this will shed insight on why some people just cannot make things happen in their life, which can potentially benefit others.”
“Maybe soon, I will see God and Jesus. At least that is what I was told. Eternal life does NOT depend on works. If it did, we will all be in hell.
“I was reading the Bible and The Integrity of God beginning yesterday, because soon I will see them.”
He was even in Santa Monica, photographing Ocean Avenue at Wilshire Boulevard. George Sodini calls his mother “Central Boss”:
“Don’t piss her off or she will be mad and vindictive for years. “
On Monday Sodini finally writes the following:
“The biggest problem of all is not having relationships or friends, but not being able to achieve and acquire what I desire in those or many other areas.
“Everything stays the same regardless of the effert (sic) I put in. If I had control over my life then I would be happier. But for about the past 30 years, I have not.”
As broke earlier today on LALATE, George Sodini in the LA Fitness shooting shot his ex girlfriend, the aerobics instructor, who had just told her class she was pregnant, but she survived. George Sodini, 48, of Scott Township, Pa. was found dead along with four women. UPMC Mercy Hospital says five of the women injured are in critical condition, two are in fair condition. The conditions of the remaining injured women are still unknown.
-Source-
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