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Pittsburgh’s public schools have effectively locked themselves down in response to a weekend shooting at a 200-teen Airbnb party that left two students dead.
No-one will be allowed into or out of the city’s public schools without an appointment after two 17-year-olds, Jaiden Brown and Mathew Steffy-Ross, were killed.
Eight other teens were also wounded when gunfire erupted about 12:30 a.m. at the ‘Easter Bash’ an massive underage party being held at an Airbnb rental on Madison Avenue and Suismon Street.
Police have not identified any suspects, but believe the wounded were caught in the crossfire between two warring groups.
Interim school superintendent Wayne Walters said that classes are resuming on Monday after a weeklong spring break that culminated in the deadly shooting.
‘So many Pittsburgh families were impacted by today’s tragedy. Because of this and out of an abundance of caution, all district schools will be placed on a modified lockdown tomorrow, Monday, April 18, 2022,’ he said in a note sent to parents, according to Action News 4.
‘A modified lockdown means that only people with scheduled appointments are permitted in or out of our buildings. Our thoughts are with the families of lost loved ones and anyone experiencing grief and trauma during this time.’
Interim school superintendent Wayne Walters said that classes are resuming on Monday after a weeklong spring break, but schools would be on modified lockdown
Pittsburgh Police crime scene investigators gather outside the short-term rental property, rear, where a shooting took place at a house party early Sunday morning, 17 April 2022
Allegheny General Health reported that seven people were treated at Allegheny General Hospital and one at Jefferson Hospital for gunshot wounds or other injuries, but officials declined to release their conditions or other information (police pictured at the scene)
Police Chief Scott Schubert said it was it was his top priority to catch the shooters involved in the mass casualty event
Police believe that at least 50 rounds were fired outside the Easter Bash that killed two 17-year-olds and left eight people wounded
The public school system is offering grief counseling for any students traumatized by the violence.
‘We know that incidents like this can cause residual pain and require ongoing healing,’ Walters said in his note.
Airbnb said that they have banned the person who rented the unit and they are cooperating with the investigation.
Police are still looking for the shooters.
‘It’s heartbreaking,’ Police Chief Scott Schubert said during a press conference. ‘Here we are, Easter, and we have multiple families, two that won’t see a loved one and others that are going to — how can you even have a holiday when your child was involved in something traumatic like this? And all the others who were at the incident. This is traumatizing
At least 200 partiers, most underage, attended the shindig, which included exotic dancers and live music, according to a flier posted on Facebook.
When gunfire broke out the fiesta turned chaotic, according to he police chief.
‘You had people who were fleeing, just trying to get out of there. You had officers and medics who were trying to tend to victims that they found. We would be notified that there was a victim in this location over here,’ he said. ‘There were multiple scenes, and it was very complex and very chaotic.’
Video posted online showed underage partygoers in an argument before shots were fired at an Airbnb early Sunday morning
Shell casings found at the scene indicate multiple guns were used, handguns and at least one rifle, and police speculated that the victims were hit by cross fire between two warring parties.
George Stevens said he was outside a bar next door to the rental property smoking a cigarette when he heard what he thought were fireworks, then saw kids fleeing.
Stevens said he let three girls hide in his vehicle and call their parents as bullets flew by. He said he saw someone inside the rental property holding a gun, as young people ran screaming and crying away from the building.
‘It happened so quick,’ he said. ‘It was just crazy. Kids were running everywhere.’
Gunshot detection system ShotSpotter indicated there were as many as 50 rounds were fired, and Schubert said ‘we know there was a lot more than that between inside the structure and outside.’
The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the two teenagers as Jaiden Brown, 17, and Mathew Steffy-Ross, 17, who both died in hospital (pictured, broken class and blood stains seen outside the Airbnb apartment rental following the fatal house party)
In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, two 17-year-olds were killed and at least eight people were injured during a shooting at a house party early Sunday morning, held at an Airbnb rental property on Suismon Street, in the East Allegheny neighborhood on the city’s north side (a shoe seen outside the property later in the morning of the shooting)
Hundreds of people – the ‘vast majority’ of them minors – had gathered at a short-term rental property when some kind of altercation occurred and shots were fired at around 12.30am. Pictured, bullet holes seen in a van parked outside. One victim was injured after a car was ‘shot up,’ police say
Police were processing evidence at as many as eight separate crime scenes spanning a few blocks around the rental home. Arriving officers found a ‘very chaotic’ scene with injured victims, medics trying to treat them and people fleeing on foot and in vehicles, he said.
Schubert said ‘it is our top priority to find out who did this and get them off the street.’
America has been rocked by three mass shootings over the Easter Weekend including two in South Carolina and one in Pittsburgh which left two 17-year-olds dead and more than 30 wounded
He said he couldn’t comment on a possible motive, but he decried the number of illegal guns and too many people with access to them as well as the potent mixture of alcohol, drugs and guns.
‘It’s heartbreaking; here we are at Easter and we have multiple families, two that won’t see a loved one,’ he said. ‘Others that are going to be – how can you even have a holiday when your child was involved in something traumatic like this?’
Allegheny General Health reported that seven people were treated at Allegheny General Hospital and one at Jefferson Hospital for gunshot wounds or other injuries, but officials declined to release their conditions or other information.
Neighbor Mitchell Wilston, 30, said that he and his wife weren’t at home during the shooting but before leaving saw the neighborhood packed with people, with cars parked the wrong way down the street and a line outside the rented home.
‘It was so obvious that there was going to be a problem – there was a line of 14-year-old kids trying to get into this place,’ he said.
The house has been rented for bachelorette parties or other events before, or for families of baseball players due to its proximity to the stadium, but no problems had occurred, he added.
Airbnb said that they were working with police in their investigation.
‘We share the Pittsburgh community’s outrage regarding this tragic gun violence,’ spokesman Bret Breit said. ‘Our hearts go out to all who were impacted — including loved ones of those who lost their lives, injured victims and neighbors.’
He said that the company does not allow parties to be held in their rentals.
‘we condemn the behavior that is alleged to have prompted this criminal gun violence. The booking guest has been issued a lifetime ban from Airbnb and we will be considering all legal options to hold this person accountable,’ he said.
Source: Daily Mail
