Shortly after 1 p.m. Tuesday, two Pittsburgh police officers performing a routine building check in the City’s East End were heard telling dispatchers they were being shot at and requesting help. The officers and several others took refuge in a nearby Salvation Army while local and federal law enforcement officers converged on the area.
The officers “were engaging community residents at the Salvation Army, when numerous shots rang out,” said Pittsburgh Police Commander Rashell Brackney. While in the Salvation Army the officers said they “could hear bullets striking the building,” said Brackney.
The shooting prompted a large police response with both the Pittsburgh and the Allegheny County Police SWAT teams responding to the scene of the shooting. Several SWAT team snipers were scene leaving their cars and walking up the hill to the 900 block of Blackadore Street where the gunman was believed to he hiding in a house.
Neighborhood resident Joann Turner told Digital Journal, “I heard seven shots.” Turner added that she wasn’t disturbed by hearing the shots adding, “We hear shots all the time. I didn’t think it was a backfire, I said ‘someone’s out there shooting again.'”
Brackney said that the two officers were preforming a routine business check when, “All of a sudden they heard shots being fired and were able to observe muzzle flashes coming from the 900 block of Blackadore.” The two officers saw shots being fired at their vehicle and quickly returned to the Salvation Army where they were eventually rescued by SWAT team members.
Several nearby schools were placed in lockdown, however the lockdown was lifted shortly before 3 p.m. after the two SWAT teams searched the two houses where they believed the gunman may have been hiding.
A search of the two houses by the SWAT teams failed to locate the gunman. Prompted by calls from several residents, police searched another home on Blackadore street and found several shell casings, but no gunman.
Brackney said police are not completely sure if the gunman targeted police or was shooting at something else. Because the officers were not responding to a 911 call, Brackney said that police at this time don’t believe the shooting was an ambush.
The area was cleared shortly after 3:30 p.m. and residents were allowed to return to their homes. Police are continuing to attempt to identify the gunman.
