Four dead in gym shooting.......

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Registered: 03-18-2000
Four dead in gym shooting.......
14
Wed, 08-05-2009 - 9:12am

Pennsylvania Gym Shooter Plotted Attack in Online Diary Before Killing Four


Shooter George Sodini's Ex-Girlfriend Was Reportedly Shot, as Was Instructor Who'd Just Told Her Class She Was Pregnant

http://www.abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=8255530&page=1


The man who shot up a Pittsburgh-area gym, killing three and injuring as many as 15 others before apparently turning a gun on himself kept an online diary detailing his hatred for his domineering mother and brother, and his lust for other women.



ABC's "Good Morning America" has confirmed that George Sodini, 48, of Scott Township, Pa., was the man who police say Wednesday walked quietly into an aerobics class at LA Fitness in Bridgeville, Pa., where he was a member, turned off the lights and started shooting. Police said they found 52 casings at the scene.



Among those reportedly shot were Sodini's ex-girlfriend, who survived, and the class instructor, who had just told her class she was pregnant, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.



Jen Malley told "Good Morning America's" Chris Cuomo that she was in the Latin dance class at LA Fitness Tuesday when the shooting started. It's a class she takes every week with friends.



"It was the most terrifying experience of my life," she said. "I've never been so scared."



Malley said she didn't see Sodini enter the room but said she felt a presence of "someone who didn't belong there." Then the room went dark.



"Everyone was just screaming so loud. At first I didn't even think shots were being fired," she said. "It was so surreal."


Then, as she realized what was happening, Malley and her friends found their way out of the room, guided by the lights in other parts of the gym.


"I just ran as fast as I could," she said, adding that she went back to make sure her best friend was behind her. "It was just a blur from there."


Sodini's Aug. 3 online diary entry, which included a date of death, was full of disturbing musings about religion and his plans for the attack. He noted that he hadn't had a drink since 2:30 on Friday as part of his preparation.


"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," the diary read. "Last time I tried this, in January, I chickened out."


The diary also indicated that Sodini hadn't had sex since 1990 and that his so-called "practice papers" -- details about the planning of the attack -- are welcome to be published afterward because "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," Sodini apparently wrote, before adding later, "I was reading the Bible and The Integrity of God beginning yesterday, because soon I will see them."



Blog Entries Detail Shooter's Problems With Family, Women, Alcohol

Sodini had apparently been planning the attack for some time, even writing that he put off his original plan until after November's 2008 presidential election, in a rambling entry that complains black men have their choice of the best white girls.


He tried again in January and May, according to the blog, but "chickened out."


The Jan. 6 entry said he even brought the loaded gun to the gym.


A lengthy New Years Eve entry lists his family members by name and, in some cases, address. He described his older brother Michael Sodini as a bully -- the "kind of guy you actually loved to hate."


He described his mother as the "Central Boss" warning, "Don't piss her off or she will be mad and vindictive for years. "


Various blog entries detail his worry about losing his job and having to re-enter the job market, as well as his troubles with alcohol.


A May 5 entry -- the day of his second attempt to launch an attack on the gym -- notes that he stopped to buy a bottle of Jack Daniels, his first drink in 20 years.


And on Monday, the day before the shootings, Sodini gave what might be the closest thing to his reason for the attacks.


"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," the blog reads. "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."



Gym Shooter Ambushed Class Full of Women

Witnesses told ABC affiliate WTAE that about 30 women were in the aerobics class when Sodini, described as a "middle-aged white male" walked in with a large gym bag.


Ron Fleeher told WTAE Channel 4 Action News that the gunman held down his niece before shooting her.


"My niece said a couple bullets went past her head and leaned down, straddled her and shot her in the shoulder," he said.


Sources close to the investigation told ABC News that multiple guns were used in the attack, including one that was registered to Sodini.


Collier Township Police Chief Tom Devin told reporters that he believed the shooter committed suicide at the scene.


A woman in the class at the time of the shooting, who identified herself as Nicole, told WTAE that the class had started about 10 minutes before gunfire erupted.


She said about 30 women were in the class when "a middle-aged white male walked into the class. He had a big gym bag."


"He looked out of place in a class full of women," according to the witness, who said the man put his bag down, turned the lights off and opened fire.


Moffat said that the man did not say a word upon entering the gym nor when walking into the dance studio.


"He walked right into the room where the shootings occurred as if he knew exactly where he was going," he said.


The floor was littered with shell casings and blood, according to surviving witnesses. A local hospital is treating five women who were shot multiple times, all of whom were in critical condition, reports WTAE.


Area hospitals are treating the other victims, including two in fair condition.




Health Club Members 'Shaken' by Gym Shooting Spree

LA Fitness gym staff told WTAE that it was a busy night health club at the time of the shooting, with about 100 people inside. Witnesses said people inside the gym took off running amid the gunshots.


Lauren Dooley, 26, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, that she had been running on a treadmill, listening to her iPod when the chaos broke out.


"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."


"I turned around there was one girl shot in the thigh and one girl shot in the back," Branson Holly, a witness inside the gym at the time of the shooting told WTAE. "I'm still shaken because I was in spinning class and it could have been my class."


Many heard the sounds of gunfire, others actually saw shots being fired in the darkened room.


"The lights were off, and I could see flashes in the dark," said Jared Frederick, a witness.


Debi Wozniak told The Associated Press that she is normally a regular at the weekly Latin impact dance exercise class. She says she missed the class Tuesday, but her sister, Joann Gazzam, had attended.


Gazzam told Wozniak that a man came in through the glass double doors, walked to the back of the room and set down the bag. She said he began looking through his bag and pulled out and began shooting.


"She told me, 'Debi, I seen everything, oh my God, I seen everything. I seen him pull out the guns,"' Wozniak said.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-03-2009
Thu, 08-06-2009 - 11:24am
WHOA!

Jabberwocka

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-05-2009
Thu, 08-06-2009 - 2:19pm

It is my belief that even if guns were illegal in the US, this man would have found a way to

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-25-2008
Thu, 08-06-2009 - 3:17pm

You're right, we usually discuss this without much in the way of ire, but to be honest your generalizations about the NRA and firearms ownership/owners as well as the arguably fatuous statement about the RKBA killing people lit a fuse so to speak.


So I suppose you're also correct in our backing away from this thread since to be blunt I'm disinclined to either respectful or civil in any discourse about the subject with you right now.

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-25-2008
Thu, 08-06-2009 - 3:19pm
Yes he could have, and no law would have been able to prevent it since those who don't respect the law in the first place have no qualms about breaking one in the furtherance of breaking others.

 


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