Pittsburgh Police investigate apparent murder-suicide

Two people were shot to death Sunday night in an apparent murder-suicide inside a Lawrenceville apartment building, Pittsburgh police said.

A female victim in her 60s was shot once in the head and died on the living room floor of her apartment near the front door. Another victim, possibly a man in his 40s, was also shot once in the head on a nearby couch next to a rifle, Kraus said.

'It definitely appears it's a murder-suicide,' Sgt. Kevin Kraus said.

The shooting at the three-story brick apartment building at Home and Plummer streets happened shortly after 8 p.m.

A neighbor who lived across the hall from the victims called police after a bullet tore through his front door.

'It appears the first shot that traveled through the neighbor's door was fired at one of the victims,' Kraus said.

Police would not identify the victims or comment on their relationship, but said the victim found on the couch was most likely a male in his 40s who worked as a truck driver.

Kraus identified the red cab of a tractor-trailer parked near the apartment as the victim's. It bore the logo of U.S. Xpress with locations in Chattanooga, Tenn. and Oklahoma City, Okla.

The family of the victims was notified last night.

As television cameras recorded police work and curious neighbors poked around, the brother of the female victim stopped by to visit his sister around 9:30 p.m. When police told him what happened, he pounded with his fist on the hood of a parked car.

'He just came by to say hi,' Kraus said. 'He had no idea what had happened.'

Neighbors were likewise unaware of any problems at the apartment in the 4600 block of Plummer Street, which years ago had been a VFW club.

'It's just one of those places that you never see people coming and going from,' neighbor Andrew Nalitz said. 'This is terrible. Stuff like this doesn't happen here.'

Marc Lukasiak can be reached at mlukasiak@tribweb.com or (412) 320-7939.