Gunman from Western Psychiatric Institute shooting identified

The Allegheny County medical examiner has identified the alleged gunman responsible for… The Allegheny County medical examiner has identified the alleged gunman responsible for Thursday’s shooting at the Western Psychiatric Institute.

Thirty-year-old John Shick of Pittsburgh allegedly opened fire in a public area on the first floor of the Western Psychiatric Institute Thursday at 1:40 p.m., killing one employee and injuring seven other people before Pitt police fatally wounded him.

The medical examiner also identified UPMC employee and Pitt graduate Michael Schaab, 25, as the victim killed in the shooting. He was pronounced dead at 3 p.m. on Thursday.According to a press release from UPMC, Schaab worked as a therapist with geriatric patients. He had worked at UPMC since 2008.

Pitt police were the first to arrive on the scene, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said at a press conference held on Thursday.

“Their quick response saved lives today,” he said.

A Pitt police officer was grazed with a bullet, but the mayor said the officer was not significantly harmed.

Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said in a statement released Saturday on Pitt’s website that the intervention by Pitt police showed their “courage and skill” as they risked their owns lives in the dangerous situation.

He said that Pitt police regularly train for a wide range of situations “that we all hope will never arise.”

“It now seems clear that the swift and effective actions of the Pitt police officers who intervened eliminated the likelihood that the list of casualties might have risen to a dramatically higher level,” Nordenberg said. “We all are in their debt.”

Pitt spokesman John Fedele said the University is not releasing the name of the injured officer yet.

Donald Yealy, chair of emergency medicine at UPMC, said in a press release posted on UPMC’s website that the seven other people injured in the shooting, including UPMC employees and a hospital visitor, are expected to survive.

Ravenstahl said at Thursday’s press conference that the gunman acted alone, despite reports that a second shooter might have been on the second floor. The investigation will cover the first and second floors of the building.

“At this point, we have no reason to believe that anyone else was involved,” he said.

Despite various reports, Ravenstahl also confirmed there was no hostage situation at UPMC Presbyterian or the Western Psych.

According to UPMC’s website, the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic has provided patients with research-based care and treatment of mental health and addictive disorders for more than 60 years. The institute, located on O’Hara Street, provides a range of behavorial health services for individuals of all ages and at every stage of recovery.

The shooting disrupted much of Oakland on Thursday, causing many surrounding schools and universities to go on lockdown. Pitt was on Spring Break at the time, although many University buildings were open throughout the week.

At 2:10 p.m. on Thursday, Pitt sent out an Emergency Notification Service alert that said an active shooter was identified at Western Psychiatric Institute and lockdown was recommended. The notification said that multiple people had been injured and that there was a possible second actor.

Around 5 p.m., UPMC sent out a press release stating that there were a total of nine victims in the shooting, two of whom had died.

The other seven were being treated at UPMC Presbyterian hospital, one block away from Western Psychiatric Institute.

Another Pitt alert at 5:16 p.m. released the lockdown on campus but told people to avoid O’Hara and DeSoto streets. The Pitt community got the all-clear at 5:55 p.m., and normal campus operations were resumed. Pitt canceled its bus services around Western Psychiatric Institute for much of the afternoon.

“Consistent with the high priority that Pitt has assigned to security, we planned carefully and invested strategically to make certain that we have both an effective emergency notification system and the technological capacity to remotely monitor unfolding events and to lock down at-risk facilities,” Nordenberg said in his statement. “When tested by this crisis on Thursday, those systems seem to have functioned very well.”