Tragedy at LA Fitness
It’s not often that the fitness clubs industry becomes the center of a media firestorm. But that’s what happened today.
The shootings at the LA Fitness in the Pittsburgh suburb of Collier, PA (also listed as Bridgeville, PA) led off the morning news shows on all the major networks today.
“It’s certainly getting a lot of publicity,” says Rick Caro, president of Management Vision. “We’ve had these kinds of terrible situations before, but this one is getting more publicity than normal. It doesn’t reflect well on the industry at all. Obviously, it makes us [seem] unsafe.”
In our September issue, we plan to address safety in clubs (we’ve already touched on safety in university rec centers) as well as get more reaction from the industry. For now, because we would not be able to do justice to the outstanding reporting done so far, check out accounts of the shootings at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Also, be sure to check out articles about the three vicitms, Heidi Overmier, Elizabeth “Betsy” Gannon and Jody Billingsley, as well as the amazing story of the surviving dance instructor, Mary Primis, who is 10 weeks pregnant, and a story on other survivors.
