Two killed in Florida yoga class shooting

Attack leaves four others injured, including man who was pistol-whipped by the shooter

Two women were killed when a gunman opened fire in a Florida yoga studio, before class members fought back and the attacker killed himself, police said yesterday.

The women — identified as Nancy Van Vessem, 61, and Maura Binkley, 21 — were shot and killed on Friday afternoon when Scott Beierle, 40, opened fire at the Hot Yoga studio at an upscale shopping centre in Florida’s capital, Tallahassee, the city’s police department said.

Four other people were injured in the shooting, including a man who was pistolwhipped by the shooter, the Tallahassee Police Department said.

“There were indications that several people not only fought back but tried to save other people,” Police Chief Michael DeLeo told reporters. Two of the wounded were in stable condition and three were released from a local hospital, police said.

Beierle suffered from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.

Mayor Andrew Gillum, the Democratic nominee for state governor, halted campaigning for Tuesday’s midterm elections to return to the city. “No act of gun violence is acceptable,” Gillum tweeted.