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Gunman killed by officer after 4 shot inside a Pennsylvania courthouse

Posted at 12:32 PM, Sep 19, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-19 18:28:03-04

A gunman who opened fire Wednesday at a municipal building in a small Pennsylvania town was shot dead by a police officer responding to the incident in which four people were wounded, state police said.

The gunman entered the Masontown Borough Municipal Center around 2 p.m. and began firing, Lt. Steve Dowlin of the Pennsylvania State Police told reporters.

The four victims included a sergeant from the Masontown police department. Their injuries are not life-threatening, Dowlin said.

The shooting occurred outside District Magistrate Daniel Shimshock's office, authorities said.

Eric Randolph, an attorney who was in the courtroom, told CNN affiliate WTAE that he heard one pop and wondered what it was. Then he heard several more pops.

The door flew open and people ran in yelling, "Shooter, shooter."

Seconds later a man with a gun entered the courtroom and swept his arm around until he pointed a gun at Randolph, the attorney said.

"It was the most intense, frightening sensation I've ever had in my life," he said.

Randolph said he put his head in his hands and when he looked back up the shooter was gone.

Door shot out

Video recorded by a helicopter for WTAE showed that one of the two glass front doors of the Masontown Borough Municipal Center had been shot out.

A spokesman for Uniontown Hospital said it received one person.

"The patient was treated and stabilized before being transferred to a Pittsburgh hospital," Josh Krysak said.

Masontown is in southern Pennsylvania, about 55 miles from Pittsburgh and 20 miles north of Morgantown, West Virginia. The town has about 3,300 residents.