3 killed in Pittsburgh gym

[Flea]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09217/988669-55.stm

The shooting occurred just after 8 p.m., when the gunman walked into LA Fitness Center in Collier with a duffel bag, turned out the lights in a room where a dance class was going on, then opened fire on the women in the room. Three were dead and at least nine wounded before he turned the gun on himself. Heidi Overmier, 46, of Carnegie, died at the scene at 8:24 p.m. Elizabeth Gannon, 49, of Green Tree, died at the scene at 8:24 p.m. Jody Billingsley, 38, of Mt. Lebanon, died at 8:52 p.m. at St. Clair Hospital.
The log kept by George Sodini shows he planned the shooting for months, and backed out several times. Mr. Sodini, an employee of K&L Gates since 1999, previously worked at Development Dimensions International, located in Bridgeville near the club.

This is my old neighborhood; I grew up near there. Maybe it's me, but it seems like when stuff like this happens in Da Burgh, it's usually in that area.
​

 

[CoryKS]

Excerpts from his blog here. In reading his thoughts, I was reminded of the chapter on Control in Steven Pearlman's "The Book of Martial Power", in which he discussed how those who lash out against others do so in an attempt to establish a sense of control over things that are beyond their influence.

Sounds like he got caught up in a feedback loop of negativity. "Women don't like me," he thinks, and grows more negative and cynical, and of course women don't like negative and cynical men so they like him even less, etc. He got caught up in bad personal philosophy and blames others for responding to it.

 

[celtic_crippler]

Excerpts from his blog here. In reading his thoughts, I was reminded of the chapter on Control in Steven Pearlman's "The Book of Martial Power", in which he discussed how those who lash out against others do so in an attempt to establish a sense of control over things that are beyond their influence.

Sounds like he got caught up in a feedback loop of negativity. "Women don't like me," he thinks, and grows more negative and cynical, and of course women don't like negative and cynical men so they like him even less, etc. He got caught up in bad personal philosophy and blames others for responding to it.

Interesting assessment. I'm sure the decline of values relating to personal responsibility is at the root of many of these type crimes. It's always somebody elses fault in Western society...

... I don't have a problem with these murderers killing themselves, I just wish they'd do that first.

 

[bekkilyn]

What a whiner.

Chances are, if he had a long-term girlfriend or wife, he'd be spending all of his time whining about her and blaming her for everything.

 

[grydth]

I read the blog via a link to the New York Post website. Chilling. This guy was a seething mass of hatred and lifelong frustration. Felt rejected and uncertain, which he blamed on his family. Even though he felt there must be something wrong with him, he wound up attacking others. Spent a lot of time on his "Exit Plan".

Convinced himself that he could commit mass murder and still go to heaven. Yeah.

I once worked with someone quite like this.

 

[Carol]

Talk about your killer workouts

(please forgive the bad taste)

 

[Flea]

I'm not going to read the blog - I just don't see any personal benefit in my doing so. But one thing I don't get is this: wouldn't he have had readers, or wouldn't someone at least have had access to it before the fact? If so, where were they?

It's always easy to see the dominoes lined up after something like this happens, but most people don't go out of their way to publicize their intentions like this. Ultimately the responsibility lies with Sodini because he went out of his way to make his decisions. But with such a public buildup, it seems like a lot of people dropped the ball. Of course not having read the blog I don't know whether it was a closed format ... but even so.

I've met mysogynists like this, and I can always smell them a mile away. No wonder he couldn't get a date. He offered up the ultimate justification for all the women who rejected him (whether it was actual or perceived on his part.) It would be interesting to see what form his reincarnation takes, if one believes in that ...

 

[MA-Caver]

I still can't figure out why these morons can't just kill themselves in the privacy of their own homes... ALONE!

 

[bekkilyn]

I'm not going to read the blog - I just don't see any personal benefit in my doing so. But one thing I don't get is this: wouldn't he have had readers, or wouldn't someone at least have had access to it before the fact? If so, where were they?

One of the news articles I read mentioned this aspect. They weren't sure if the guy had the blog posted publicly for the entire 9 months or if it was private up until just before the time of the incident.

 

[CoryKS]

I'm not going to read the blog - I just don't see any personal benefit in my doing so. But one thing I don't get is this: wouldn't he have had readers, or wouldn't someone at least have had access to it before the fact? If so, where were they?

A poster over on Fark mentioned that:

here's the extent of this man's isolation:

he had a "blog" on the internet, linked to his name, in which he journaled his innermost deranged thoughts and documented his plans for mass murder.

and no one knew. except him.

Assuming that it was up all this time and he didn't just throw it up there recently.

 

[zDom]

Hindsight is 20/20, they say. Maybe if it was visible before the fact, people interpreted it as a suicidal (sans homicides) exit plan.

Thank God he was a horrible shot or this tragedy could have been much worse: he shot, what?, 36 rounds and only killed 3?

No disrespect to the 3 lost, just saying it could have been 10 or 20 or 30 if he had trained for this murder spree instead of just planned for it.

I wonder how many would have died if he chose a machete instead of hanguns. I would think more, not fewer, casualties.

 

[Empty Hands]

Thank God he was a horrible shot or this tragedy could have been much worse: he shot, what?, 36 rounds and only killed 3?

Read it again: he turned out the lights.

 

[zDom]

Read it again: he turned out the lights.

Ahh my bad.

In THAT case it was also poor planning

Thank God he was stupid (tactically) in addition to being mentally ill.

 

[CoryKS]

Ahh my bad.

In THAT case it was also poor planning

Thank God he was stupid (tactically) in addition to being mentally ill.

Or maybe he couldn't bear to watch himself killing people. I'm told it's a hard thing to do.

 

[Empty Hands]

Thank God he was stupid (tactically) in addition to being mentally ill.

It depends on his purpose. As Cory points out, he might have had difficulty doing it. His blog mentions that he was having difficulty, and had "chickened out" several times before without going through with it. He may also have been trying to terrify everyone more, prevent easy escape, prevent them from attacking him, or some other nutty reason.