Gunman shoots three dead in Pennsylvania fitness gym massacre

A man who shot and killed three women in a Pennsylvania health club, then himself, apparently blogged his rage-filled preparations - with the final chilling entry announcing the "big day" of the massacre.

The killer, who late Tuesday burst into the LA Fitness Gym in Bridgeville, near Pittsburgh, and unleashed a spray of gunfire, appeared to have written the blog on a personal web page starting last November.

On the eve of the killings, he wrote: "Took off today, Monday, and tomorrow to practice my routine and make sure it is well polished.... Tomorrow is the big day."

The blog has still to be authenticated by police and was removed from the internet early yesterday.

If authentic, the net diary reveals in unusual detail the sinister and twisted thought process of a man crippled by sexual frustration, anger at women, self-pity, and depression.

It identifies the writer as George Sodini, 48, shown in a picture attached to the blog to be a lean, white man with slightly greying hair and wearing a smart blue shirt.

Police say Mr Sodini, a member of the gym, sprayed gunfire into a Latin dance class after turning out the lights to make escape harder. Three women died and about 10 other people were wounded before he apparently killed himself.

In the blog, Sodini writes as far back as November 5, last year, that he "planned to do this in the summer" but decided to see the result of the presidential election won by President Barack Obama.