Police: Man shoots girlfriend inside North Shore hotel after argument

PITTSBURGH — A 56-year-old woman remains hospitalized in critical condition after police said she was shot by her boyfriend during an argument over crack cocaine inside a North Shore hotel early Friday morning.

According to police, the woman was shot in the abdomen inside her room on the eighth floor of the Residence Inn on West General Robinson across from PNC Park around 3:30 a.m.

When investigators arrived, the woman was lying on the floor, Lt. Kevin Kraus said.

Police had initial reports that she accidentally shot herself, but investigators believe the woman’s boyfriend, 67-year-old Billy Long, shot her after an argument about crack cocaine, Kraus said.

Police suspect the gun used in the shooting was stolen, because it is registered to a woman who was born in 1923.

Long has been taken to the Allegheny County Jail, and is charged with aggravated assault and illegal possession of a firearm, police said.

The woman, whose name hasn’t been released, was taken to Allegheny General Hospital, where she remains in critical but stable condition.

Kraus said the woman had been staying at the hotel for weeks, after a burglary damaged her home in the East End. No other information was released.

WPXI