| Collier Township shooting | |
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The scene in Collier Township at an LA Fitness center where the shooting took place on August 4, 2009 |
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| Location | Collier Township, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Date | Tuesday, August 4, 2009 8:15 pm (EDT) |
| Attack type | Shooting, murder-suicide |
| Weapon(s) | At least 3 handguns[1] |
| Deaths | 4 (including the perpetrator) |
| Injured | 9[1] |
| Perpetrator | George Sodini |
The 2009 Collier Township shooting, also referred to as the 2009 Bridgeville LA Fitness shooting, was a murder-suicide that took place on August 4, 2009 in an LA Fitness health club in Collier Township, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The attack resulted in four deaths, including that of the perpetrator who took his own life. Nine other people were injured.[1] The fitness center is approximately 10 miles (16 km) south of Pittsburgh,[2] in The Great Southern Shopping Center, a strip mall located near Bridgeville.
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The shooting occurred at a women's aerobics class at the LA Fitness center in The Bridgeville Great Southern Shopping Center of Collier Township at approximately 8:15 p.m. EDT. The shooter entered the class, placed a duffel bag on the ground, turned off the lights, took out at least two handguns and began firing, police said. According to police, the gunman may have fired 52 shots before committing suicide.[3] The handguns used by the perpetrator reportedly were two 9mm semiautomatics and a .45-caliber revolver.[1]
Three women and the gunman died, and about nine other people were injured. The county Medical Examiner's office identified the three women who died as Heidi Overmier, 46, of Collier; Elizabeth Gannon, 49, of Green Tree, Pennsylvania; and Jody Billingsley, 38, of Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania.[4]
The perpetrator was 48-year-old Scott Township resident George Sodini (September 30, 1960[5] – August 4, 2009), a systems analyst at the law firm of K&L Gates.[6] On a website registered in his name,[7] Sodini chronicled over a nine-month period his rejections by women and his severe sexual frustration. "Who knows why? I am not ugly or too weird. No sex since July 1990 either (I was 29)," he writes. "Last time I slept all night with a girlfriend it was 1982. Girls and women don't even give me a second look ANYWHERE." About his problems with women, he wrote: "Women just don't like me. There are 30 million desirable women in the US (my estimate) and I cannot find one." He also wrote about contemplating carrying out a shooting, which he referred to as the "exit plan",[3] while also revealing that he "chickened out" of carrying out such a shooting earlier in the year. The website states that he was "never married" and concludes "Death Lives!" Sodini states, "Probably 99% of the people who know me well don't even think I was this crazy." Sodini is reported to have left a note along inside the gym bag stating his hatred for women.[4] In 2008, Sodini posted online videos, in which he discusses his emotions, along with a tour of his home, the latter which was a homework assignment from "a self-help seminar [he] had attended on how to date women".[8] Nearly a week after the murders, it was revealed that Sodini had brought an inert grenade on a Port Authority bus on July 28, 2009. After a passenger sitting next to him notified police, he was questioned about the incident but no charges were filed.[9]
It was later revealed that Sodini had left $225,000 for the University of Pittsburgh in his estate.[10] However, the estate may be instead given to Sodini's victims, as courts have ultimate decisions over estates. The university has said it has "no interest" in receiving Sodini's estate.
On August 6, 2009, a vigil service was held for the three women killed in the shooting. The event was held at the Allegheny County Courthouse in downtown Pittsburgh. 75 people attended the memorial service.