LA Fitness Club Could Reopen in 2-3 Weeks

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Theresa Smith (left) and Ashley Slifko embrace outside the LA Fitness in Collier, PA, after a gunman killed three women and wounded nine others on Aug. 4. Photo by Michael Henninger, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/ ZUMApress.com.

COLLIER, PA -- The LA Fitness club in the Pittsburgh suburb of Collier, PA—scene of last week’s shootings in which a gunman killed three women and wounded nine others before turning the gun on himself—could reopen in the next two to three weeks at the earliest, a representative at the club said today.

Club staff was told two days after the Aug. 4 shootings that the Collier club would reopen in a minimum of three weeks—perhaps longer.

Members at the Collier club (also called the Bridgeville, PA, club) can work out free of charge at neighboring LA Fitness clubs in Pleasant Hills, PA, and Monroeville, PA, the Collier staff member said. Other competing clubs in the area may be taking Collier members in, but that has not been confirmed. Collier members will not be billed while the club is closed.

Counseling sessions began Saturday at a hotel in Pittsburgh and continue today. LA Fitness also provided a phone number for further counseling: 1-888-293-6948.

The funerals for two of the victims, Heidi Overmier and Elizabeth “Betsy” Gannon, were held Saturday. The funeral for the third victim, Jody Billingsley, is scheduled for Wednesday.

In other developments today, Pittsburgh police say they questioned the gunman, George Sodini, a week before the shootings about an incident involving a hand grenade Sodini allegedly had with him on a bus, according to multiple reports. Police received a call from a man who had ridden the bus with Sodini claiming that he saw him with a grenade in his hands. Sodini then allegedly asked the man if he wanted to hold the grenade.

When Sodini was questioned about the incident by police on July 30, he denied having the grenade. The passenger who initially made the call was unable to identify Sodini.

However, after the shootings, police later discovered writings in Sodini’s home in which he referred to the grenade incident on the bus.

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© 2012 Penton Media Inc.

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