Madison Robotics Safe After Pitt Shooting

Update 5:55 p.m.:  In an email to parents, head parent volunteer Don May said the team has been "told that we will be allowed to leave whenever we wish,
which will probably be around 6:30 this evening."

Update 4:54 p.m. Krikorian said the students continue to be on lockdown but "are all handling the situation well. Ironically many schools had their annual lockdown drills just last week," she wrote.

There continues to be confusion over the number of shooters involved. Some say the sole gunman was shot, others say another could still be at large.

"There seems to be some dispute over that," Krikorian said.

Original: Members of the Madison High School Robotics team are all safe and uninjured following a shooting Thursday at a psychiatric clinic at the University of Pittsburgh, which has killed at least two people including one suspected shooter, university officials say.

A gunman began shooting inside the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC shortly before 2 p.m, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported around 4 p.m. Reports of a second shooter have been determined to be incorrect, the newspaper said.

Two people are dead and another seven have been taken to a local hospital, the Post-Gazette reported. A Pitt police officer was hit in the leg, it said.

Madison's Robotics Team is at the university for the 10th annual Pittsburgh Regional FIRST Robotics Competition, which runs March 8 to 10 at the Petersen Events Center.

In an email to Patch from the team's hotel, parent Amelie Krikorian said all students were being held in lockdown just before 4 p.m. on Thursday.

She also said she could see helicopters overhead looking for a possible second shooter. It's not clear how many gunmen were involved, or, what made them start shooting at the clinic.

Krikorian was with 18 students at the Carnegie Science Center when they got a message from the team's pit crew, which is comprised of about 10 Madison students and five chaperones. That crew has been in lockdown in the Petersen Center for the past two hours. Krikorian took her team in lockdown to their  hotel, which is about half a mile away.

"We did not hear shots," she wrote. "There are ambulances and police cars all over the neighborhood."

Patch will update this story as more information becomes available.