2 shot in Pittsburgh's Cultural District, workers concerned about safety Downtown

When Thomas Lewis, a parking attendant at the lot on the corner of Penn Avenue and Ninth Street, heard gunshots Friday afternoon, his heart started racing.

“I heard three shots and walked behind the booth of my job to get out of the line of sight of anything potential and just seen people running down and away,” said Lewis, 26, of Squirrel Hill. “I go hunting, I go to the range, so it’s not like I haven’t heard guns.”

But it was jarring to hear the sounds typically heard inside a controlled environment at the range in the heart of Pittsburgh’s Cultural District.

Lewis said his customers ran back to their cars, with some saying “we gotta get out of here.”

Two people were shot on Penn Avenue near the Barcelona Wine Bar, according to Pittsburgh Public Safety officials.

Both shooting victims were transported by medics to the hospital in stable condition, according to police.

Two people were transported to police headquarters for interviews about the shooting Friday, and the investigation is ongoing.

Police responded just before 4:25 p.m. at Penn Avenue and Garrison Place in the Cultural District to reports of a woman who was shot.

She was found on the sidewalk shot in the lower leg, police said.

Barcelona Wine Bar had no comment on the situation as of Friday, staff told TribLive. The restaurant closed for the rest of Friday.

A second victim, a man, was located “moments later” outside a business in the 700 block of Penn Avenue with gunshot wounds to his leg and arm, according to police.

Multiple witnesses at the scene said that business was the The Eagle restaurant located at 737 Penn Ave.

The Eagle closed for the rest of the night following the shooting, according to signs posted on the door. Staff there declined to comment. The signs said the restaurant will reopen with normal business hours Saturday.

Both Nathan Nitikorn, a manager at Nicky’s Thai Kitchen, and Lilly Comello, a host at Bridges & Bourbon — both restaurants located on Penn Avenue between Ninth and 10th streets where the shooting took place — said they heard three distinct gunshots.

“We saw one lady she tried to, she ran that way,” Nitikorn said, pointing in the direction of The Eagle. “We saw some blood dripping.”

A trail of blood remained on the sidewalk of Penn Avenue from Garrison Place to The Eagle.

Nitikorn said he was scared when he heard the gunshots, and Nicky’s Thai Kitchen locked its door to protect customers and employees. He said the shooting happened during a break, and the only people sitting outside were two or three employees.

“When we heard the shots, we called them in, locked the door,” he said.

The restaurant remained closed for around an hour, until 5:20 p.m. Friday, when police said it was safe to reopen.

At Bridges & Bourbon, Comello, 21, of Oakland, was standing at the host stand when the gunshots went off.

“Everyone knew they were gunshots when they went off,” she said. “I personally was very startled. A lot of people came up to the windows to look; I stepped behind the wall because it was just very shocking to me.”

Comello, who has been a host there since May and is a rising senior at the University of Pittsburgh, said she saw people running to get a better look at what was happening, rather than running the opposite way.

“Pretty quickly, we knew that the person was OK, so I wasn’t too startled, but I was shaken,” she said.

No one was eating at Bridges & Bourbon’s outside tables, but the restaurant’s windows were open, so Comello said the people eating by them were moved and the windows were closed.

People were eating outside, and the windows were reopened as of 7:30 p.m..

Police said they are still searching for a man who fled down Garrison Place toward Liberty Avenue.

Downtown safety concerns

Though Nitikorn said he’s witnessed protests near Nicky’s Thai Kitchen and had previously heard shootings one street away on Liberty Avenue, nothing like this has happened recently so close by.

“I think it could be a little bit safer,” he said of Pittsburgh as a whole.

Often, people have come up to ask guests at Nicky’s eating outside for money or food, according to Nitikorn.

“They bother the customers,” he said. “Some of them make our customers cry. We have to move the customers back inside.”

Aside from Friday, Comello said she’s felt safe on Penn Avenue while working at Bridges & Bourbon.

However, she has had concerns walking to her car when she gets off of work.

“Sometimes walking to my car, I do feel a little unsafe,” Comello said. “I just try to stay in well-lit areas. I do try to avoid the alleys.”

She has frequently cut through the alley at Garrison Place, which is where the shooting took place.

“I don’t think I’m going to do that anymore,” Comello said. “I would say I have had concerns about (Pittsburgh safety) compared to living in Oakland.”

Mayor’s statement

“No one wants to see violence of any kind in our neighborhoods, especially acts that put lives at risk,” Mayor Ed Gainey said in a written statement. “Let me be clear: there is no place for this kind of behavior in our city … Isolated incidents of violence are tragic, but do not define a neighborhood or City. Like many areas across the country, we face challenges, but we are meeting them head-on.”