Gunshot wounds man at Rivers Casino
Violence descended on the city of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania over the weekend as a man shot a victim in the leg in a casino parking garage. A fight also broke out that same day at the neighboring Heinz Field stadium during an NFL preseason game.
The shooting incident occurred at around 1:00am on August 21 at the 700 block of Casino Drive, identified as Rivers Casino Pittsburgh along the city’s North Shore. The City of Pittsburg Bureau of Police shared news of the early Saturday morning incident on Facebook:
According to Pittsburgh police, they responded to the incident together with the Pittsburgh Emergency Medical Services and Pennsylvania State Police. Those first on the scene discovered a male victim with a gunshot wound in the leg on the upper level of the garage.
Despite SWAT arriving to clear the garage, police said the “victim and the suspect knew each other and there was no immediate danger to the public.”
Police arrested the suspect on the property, while medical services took the gunshot victim to hospital in a stable condition. Neither the victim nor the shooter was identified.
Pittsburgh joins parking lot violence trend
The shooting at Rivers Casino Pittsburgh adds another tally to the US-wide trend of casino-vicinity violence, with parking areas a regular crime scene setting for gun play.
In April, the Gila River Police Department exchanged fire with a man, whom they later arrested. The suspect is now up on first-degree murder and aggravated assault charges, after he fatally shot an unarmed man in a parking structure near the Gila River Hotels & Casinos – Wild Horse Pass property in Chandler, Arizona. It was a similar script in Las Vegas earlier this year in January, where the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department discovered a gunshot victim in the parking area of the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino.
first-degree murder and felony firearm charges after gunning down a man
A Detroit man is facing first-degree murder and felony firearm charges after gunning down a man in the parking lot of MotorCity Casino Hotel in Detroit, Michigan on March 21. Like the Rivers Casino shooting, the incident happened in the early hours of a weekend morning.
In October 2020, a security detail fatally shot a hostile homeless gunman in the valet area of Sin City’s South Point Hotel Casino & Spa. The parking area of the Tropicana Las Vegas, meanwhile, resembled a scene out of the Wild West in November 2020 as lead flew in a shootout believed to be a drug deal gone south.
More violence erupts near casino
The Rivers Casino Pittsburgh shooting capped a forgettable weekend for the Steel City. A fight broke out right next door to the casino at Heinz Field stadium during the Pittsburgh Steelers versus Detroit Lions NFL preseason game on August 21.
Pittsburgh Police are investigating the incident and took to Twitter to ask the public’s help in identifying the people involved:
The New York Post tweeted a scene from the Heinz Field fight, which shows a woman slapping a man, who hits the woman back, and then hits another man:
According to the Pennsylvania news source TribLive, Steelers spokesman Burt Lauten said: “This kind of conduct is inexcusable, and we will respond accordingly once more information is obtained.”