Terror in the Steel City

A worker at a Downtown building who was using a pellet gun with a scope to scare pigeons prompted a massive police response that led to the shutdown of several blocks this afternoon.

An area around Stanwix Street, Fort Duquesne Boulevard and Penn Avenue was closed to vehicles and pedestrians after at least two people in neighboring buildings saw the man with a gun in the old Pittsburgh Allegheny County Thermal building that faces Fort Duquesne Boulevard.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06081/674773.stm

Dozens of Pittsburgh police were seen near the theater district looking to the man with a gun that had a scope of lighting device on it. There were reports that the suspect wore a beard and camouflage clothing.

A SWAT team was also called to the scene.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,188804,00.html


CBS radio station KDKA reports several witnesses reportedly saw a man with a high-powered rifle and dressed in camouflage enter the five-story PACT Building located near the city's theatre district.

About two hours later, police were able to locate the man's supervisor, who said that the man sometimes brings the pellet gun to work to shoot pigeons.

City Police Chief Dom Costa did not immediately say if charges would be filed.

Mayor Bob O'Connor, who was on the scene in a bulletproof vest, at first called the man a "presumed sniper."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/22/national/main1430805.shtml

A caller to 911 reported seeing a man dressed partly in camouflage and carrying what appeared to be a rifle equipped with a telescopic or laser gunsight, police at the scene said.

Mayor Bob O'Connor, wearing a bulletproof vest, called the man a "presumed sniper."

Several roads and bridges leading into the city were closed, city buses were rerouted, and students at nearby schools were kept inside.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/3741633.html