State police report that a 22-year-old male was killed and eight others were injured early Sunday morning in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, following a mass shooting at a party.
At 12:35 a.m., the gunfire erupted. A private event was being held at a community center in White Township, according to a release from the Pennsylvania State Police.
IUP Homecoming Weekend Shooting
The deceased individual has been identified as a 22-year-old male from Pittsburgh. An 18-year-old from Chicago is in critical condition in the hospital, along with five other injured individuals, as per CNN.
In addition to the 18-year-old victim from Chicago, seven others between the ages of 18 and 23 were injured, one from Florida and the rest from Pennsylvania. At least two of the nine individuals shot, according to an IUP spokesperson, were students.
People leaving the gunfire on Sunday morning left their shoes strewn across the ground just outside the center. Ellen Ober fought back emotions as she recalled what transpired when shots were fired mere feet from her residence, which she shares with her husband Robert Miller. They heard roughly twenty gunfire.
"It's too scary and too much," said Ober. "Bang, bang, bang, repeatedly. It was more than one or two."
Miller glanced out the window and observed people fleeing the center. The entire parking lot was packed with people jogging.
"Everyone was running down there and out there, and then out the back here," Miller said.
They trampled one another, with some leaving by the center's terrace while tearing down a portion of the fence. It was IUP's homecoming weekend, but the circumstances surrounding the celebration are ambiguous. The alert system at IUP instructed students to remain in a secure location until 6:40 a.m. A spokesperson for IUP told KDKA that the institution did not sponsor the event, but students were present.
"There were young people there and they shouldn't been on the sidewalk bleeding," Ober remarked, according to CBS News.
Chevy Chase Community Center: A Sanctuary of Inclusivity and Community Devotion
The Chevy Chase Community Center was constructed in 1971 by a group founded in 1969 to combat destitution and provide assistance to those in need, according to the organization's website.
The center's stated mission is to "cultivate, nurture, and maintain a peaceful and inclusive culture that brings the community together through positivity, diversity, inclusion, education, nutrition, and love."
On the center's Facebook page, executive director Brandi Ports stated that officials are "praying for everyone involved" and that the center would be closed until further notice.
"Please be in prayer for those involved, our community, and our staff and volunteers," she pleaded.
Lillian Clemons, a local resident and former director of the center, told the Tribune-Review that her brother is among the many individuals who receive meals there. She believes that the center should not be rented out during "crazy weekends" such as homecoming.
Per The Washington Post, she stated, "This was an act of community devotion. This is why we require it, for the people."
