Gunfire in Pittsburgh neighborhood prompts evacuations, standoff; person later pronounced dead

PITTSBURGH (AP) — A person facing eviction opened fire from inside a Pittsburgh home Wednesday and was later pronounced dead after a siege that lasted much of the day, authorities said.

Pittsburgh Public Safety said city emergency medical service responders pronounced the person dead shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday after the hourslong siege that forced evacuations from the city’s Garfield neighborhood.

The Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office said its people were trying to serve the eviction notice when the occupant began firing shots. Witnesses said they heard what sounded like hundreds of shots beginning at about 11 a.m. Wednesday. Hours into the siege, more gunfire erupted.

A sergeant leading the eviction notice detail suffered an injury unrelated to gunfire and is doing OK, sheriff’s office spokesman Mike Manko said.

A state police spokesperson said drones were used during the siege, and a large number of police and other first responders were at the scene, just a few blocks from a children’s hospital.

Pittsburgh Public Safety, a grouping of law enforcement and other emergency responders in the city, did not immediately elaborate on the circumstances surrounding the death of the person.