Oakland shooting update
By: John Manganaro / Assistant News Editor
Posted on 23. Jul, 2010 in News
At least two vehicles were involved in the shooting that occurred this afternoon in Oakland, according to eye witnesses and the Pitt police. One officer reported that the more than three shots fired came from inside one of them.
According to Pitt police officer Steve Tomovich, two vehicles sped through South Oakland from the direction of Forbes Avenue around 12:30 p.m. One apparently opened fire on the other near the corner of Dawson and South Bouquet streets.
Chatter on the police scanner indicated that a blue sports utility vehicle and a champagne colored Cadillac were involved in the incident. Tomovich said both vehicles fled the scene at high speeds, leaving the Oakland area and a number of damaged vehicles behind them.
He said both Pitt and Pittsburgh police are on high alert for any report of the vehicles or information regarding the shooting. So far no suspects have been named, and no arrest have been made.
No injuries have been reported in relation to the incident.
Tomovich said Pittsburgh police are investigating the incident, as it did not appear to involve anyone related to the University.
"This is pretty much an unprecedented incident in Oakland, in my time at least," Tomovich said. "We don't ever see shots fired from a moving vehicle. We don't know what it was about yet, but a lot of violent cases like this prove to be drug related."
"It's a miracle that no one was hit," Tomovich said. "There's no way to control a fire arm from inside a car, they could have hit anyone. During lunch time in Oakland too, when so many people are out."
Tomovich said Oakland residents should not be overly alarmed by the incident, but should nonetheless be on the lookout for suspicious or violent activity.
"Violence like this can really put pressure on a community, but we think this is an isolated incident," Tomovich said. "Students should obviously be careful and aware, and should report any suspicious activity immediately. We hope this proves to be an isolated incident."
5 Responses to “Oakland shooting update”
Leave a Reply
With the recent rape and this drive by, it is time Pitt (and Carlow and UPMC) look into something like the Univeristy City District public safety program in Philadelphia (see http://www.universitycity.org/ucd_programs/public_safety). The students and residents shouldn’t have to put up with this type of environment, and the institutions cannot afford the potential reputation that their home neighborhood is developing.
So they fled through South Oakland from Forbes, and yet the shots were fired in Central Oakland? That doesn’t make sense.
My guess is that they never entered South Oakland (which is south of Boulevard of the Allies), and that someone should brush up on city geography.
Perhaps Pitt should start including a complementary bullet proof vest in their student aid packages.
Its pretty funny that the Post-Gazette doesnt report ANY of the shootings, rapes, agg. assaults that occur in Oakland…or any major media outlet in Pittsburgh. This is done to protect the reputation of Pitt,Carlow and CMU, though any community crime-watch program wont stop the degenerates from spilling into oakland. Lots of residents of the Hill District and Uptown section come to Oakland for The-O, among other things…so to have a shoot-out chase in Oakland isnt that surprising at all. As I said, a community program will not stop this, at all.
Pitt cracked down on places like Ginza’s on Atwood Street, a local Japanese eatery that turned into a nightclub/bar on weekends, and furnished alchohol to minors, and you would see tons of “non-university affilates” hanging around until 2am…harping on drunken white chicks.
Next will be The-O, to go that is. Look at the new Dunkin’ Donuts on Forbes; it replaced “Boomerangs,” which always furnished/allowed underage drinking.
So, I give Pitt credit for the steps they’ve made in the last 5-6 yrs, but Pitt will always have incidents like this. I mean, the hill district is the worst neighborhood(along with Homewood) from here to North Philly, and west to Chicago. Trees Hall (Pitt Bldg) overlooks the Hill..
Either Way, PENN STATE SUCKS!
HAIL TO PITT.
Just to be clear, the program in Philadelphia’s University City is not a “community crime-watch program.” It is comprised of very visible, but unarmed personnel stationed at regular intervals in residential areas off of, but surrounding, the primary university campuses for a several block area that covers more ground than the Forbes-Dawson-Blvd of Allies area. It has been very effective in reducing issues around Penn, Drexel and USP, and it makes what was once a substantially more notorious area than Oakland feel much safer than Oakland does currently.