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Woman Accused Of Firing Gun Into Large Crowd At City's Irish Centre

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PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- A woman is behind bars in the Allegheny County Jail, facing a variety of charges for two separate incidents, including one where she's accused of firing a gun into a crowd of people.

Over the weekend, 31-year-old Virginia Mahaffey was arrested and charged for firing several shots into a crowd outside an event at the Irish Centre of Pittsburgh on Forward Avenue in Squirrel Hill on Sunday.

No one was hurt, but a security guard working at the center heard the shots, put Mahaffey in handcuffs and held her until police arrived.

Authorities say the woman told police she fired her gun because someone put a weapon to her head, but no shell casings were found.

Police recovered a nine millimeter handgun.

Officers later discovered that Mahaffey should not have been carrying a weapon because of an outstanding warrant.

On Jan. 20, Mahaffey was charged with kicking punching, biting and strangling her girlfriend to the point where she passed out.

Mahaffey was attending an event sponsored by an LGBT organization, called the FEMZ group. A spokesperson says the group has never had any problems, and he hopes this is an isolated incident.

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