Shooting at Pittsburgh-area bar leaves 2 dead, 7 injured
PENN HILLS, Pa. (KDKA) — Two people were killed and seven others injured in a mass shooting at a bar in Penn Hills early Sunday morning.
The shooting happened at the Ballers Hookah Lounge and Cigar Bar on Laketon Road. Officers with the Penn Hills Police Department were called to the scene for a report of a shooting just before 3 a.m. on Sunday.
Allegheny County police said one of the seven hurt was in critical condition, while the other six had serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
Allegheny County Police Superintendent Chris Kearns said officers found a man and a woman dead inside. The medical examiner later identified them as 44-year-old Nathaniel Smiley Jr. and 28-year-old Stephanie Stuart. Four men and three women were also shot. They were taken to local hospitals by ambulance or private vehicles, police said.
Kearns believes two or more shooters are responsible.
"We're very early in the investigation, and we're working to try to sort all of this out," Kearns said.
What investigators do know is a fight broke out inside the bar, leading to the shooting, and it's not the first shooting at the business.
"Penn Hills police have been here for two recent shooting incidents," Kearns said.
Kearns said those happened within the past month or so, and neither was deadly.
There are signs on the front of the establishment that say, 'No guns," but somehow weapons got inside. A security guard who didn't want to be identified told KDKA-TV he's one of multiple guards working at the business' doors.
Investigators have yet to make any arrests. KDKA-TV reached out to the business for comment but did not hear back on Sunday.
If you have any information about what happened, you're asked to call county police at 1-833-ALL-TIPS. Callers can remain anonymous.
Neighbors call for violence to stop after Penn Hills bar shooting
Penn Hills resident Rena Parrotte thought something had happened down the street from her home.
"I got a text from a girlfriend of mine asking me, 'Is everything OK?'" Parrotte said.
In fact, it was much closer.
"I'm like, 'Oh, my God, it really was in front of my house,'" Parrotte said.
Parrotte said she hasn't noticed any problems in the short time the bar has been there.
"You don't hear nothing unless you hear the kids outside playing in the morning," Parrotte said.
She's sick of the gun violence and hopes something changes soon.
"It's sad to hear that people going to enjoy themselves, they can't really enjoy themselves too much no more nowadays," Parrotte said. "Let's just put the guns down, please."