A father and his two children died after falling from a parking garage in Mt. Lebanon in a murder-suicide, a source told TribLive.
The garage where the incident took place is in the 700 block of Washington Road. Details of what led up to the deaths are still unfolding.
Mt. Lebanon police Chief Jason Haberman earlier said police arrived on the scene around 4:15 p.m. for reports of three people found unconscious in the roadway on Municipal Way near Florida Avenue. The scene is behind the Mt. Lebanon Municipal Building and a neighboring parking garage.
“At this time, we are treating this incident as not an accident,” Haberman said.
Haberman said the incident will be traumatic for the community.
“There will be a significant amount of trauma associated with this event,” he said, without revealing details. “Everyone in the community will know someone involved in this incident.”
He did not identify the victims.
The chief says first responders worked hard to save the three but all were dead at the scene.
He said there is no threat to the public.
The Mt. Lebanon School District issued a statement late Tuesday that Markham and Washington elementary schools would be closed on Wednesday.
”We are deeply saddened by the tragic news involving members of our Mt. Lebanon school community,” the statement said. “We ask that the privacy of the family and our school community be respected as we navigate this devastating loss.”
Allegheny County Police have been called in to investigate.
Marcia Duco of Pittsburgh’s Lincoln Place neighborhood lingered at the scene, waiting more than an hour to retrieve her car from the closed garage.
An employee at South Hills Eye Clinic, an optometrist across Washington Road from the garage, Duco said when she saw the initial sirens, she thought someone was stuck in the garage’s elevator.
Duco, and the handful of others waiting, left the scene soon after 7:20, when authorities reopened the garage.
Around 7:45, a neighbor who said he knew the children but declined to speak to TribLive, wept and repeatedly lit a small lighter in honor of the children as he stood near the site of their death.
James Engel is a TribLive staff writer. He can be reached at jengel@triblive.com
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