Crimes against women decried at vigil for victims of Collier shootings
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A group of people gather for the candlelight vigil outside the City-County building Downtown yesterday. -
Jan Werme, friend of shooting victim Elizabeth Gannon, mourns after a candlelight vigil organized by the Women and Girls Foundation outside the City-County Building Downtown yesterday.
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Women's rights activists and preachers, local dignitaries and mournful friends huddled under the marble portico of the City-County Building before sundown yesterday as rush-hour traffic hummed nearby on Grant Street.
Holding white candles, they spoke of horror and heartache and of the need for community and closeness as they honored the victims of Tuesday's shooting at LA Fitness in Collier.
Some quietly sobbing, the 75 or so in the crowd bowed their heads in prayer for Heidi Overmier, Elizabeth Gannon and Jody Billingsley, who died in the gunfire.
Then, in a steady voice, the Rev. Janet Scott-Mace, of the Women's Center & Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh, read the names of the nine surviving victims, who continued to recover at hospitals yesterday.
The group was praying for "the full and speedy recovery of the nine other women, whose physical wounds are still being treated and whose emotional scars will be felt for many more years to come," said Heather Arnet, the executive director of The Women and Girls Foundation.
Two shooting victims had been treated and released from UPMC Mercy. One victim remained in serious condition there and another had been upgraded to fair condition.
Two women were still at Allegheny General Hospital in fair condition.
Two others had been released from St. Clair Hospital.
A ninth victim was released from a hospital Wednesday.
Ms. Arnet called the shootings "an intentional premeditated act of violence," by George Sodini, 48, of Scott, a perpetrator who "targeted his victims for the sole fact that they were women."
Investigators have said that Mr. Sodini, who ended his own life with a bullet to the head after the rampage, had a general hatred for women, but knew none of the people he shot.
Yesterday, police said that Mr. Sodini stepped outside to call his mother on his cell phone just minutes before the shooting spree.
"We don't know what he said," Allegheny County police Assistant Superintendent James Morton told the Post-Gazette.
When Mr. Sodini re-entered the LA Fitness center just before 8 p.m., he was carrying four guns.
He walked into an exercise room where an aerobics class was under way and started shooting.
Assistant Superintendent Morton would not discuss whether police had interviewed Mr. Sodini's mother.
She couldn't be reached for comment, but the Sodini family released a statement: "Our hearts and prayers are with the victims and their families and we pray for the full recovery of the survivors."
Ms. Arnet and others who spoke at last night's vigil said Mr. Sodini's crimes offer a chance to speak about how women are treated in society and how "we can develop strong, sensitive men out of our boys."
Mimi Yahn, 55 of McCandless, Anna Marie Gire, 63, of Brookline, and Nancy Leff, 61, of Squirrel Hill, chatting after the vigil, said the shootings happened because of a prevailing "climate of hate against women."
"There's not enough outrage," Ms. Gire said.
Nearby, friends of Ms. Gannon recalled her and cried.
"Betsy loved and lived life to the fullest," one friend, Jill Haley, said. "And I miss her already."
First Published August 7, 2009 12:00 am
