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Downingtown East grad killed by bus near University of Pittsburgh

Barbara Como was a senior at The University of Pittsburgh.

Police and other emergency vehicles respond on the scene of a fatal bus accident at Fifth Avenue and DeSoto Street in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Oakland.
Police and other emergency vehicles respond on the scene of a fatal bus accident at Fifth Avenue and DeSoto Street in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Oakland.Read moreKDKA-TV
    by Ashley Murray and Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
    Published 

A 2017 graduate of Downingtown High School East was fatally struck by a bus early Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh, authorities said.

Barbara Como, of Chester Springs, was a senior anthropology student at the University of Pittsburgh and a research assistant with the Learning Research and Development Center, according to university officials.

“The Pitt community is deeply saddened by the tragic death of Barbara Como. ... As the Pitt community mourns the loss of one of our students, we send our heartfelt sympathy to her family and friends,” the university said in a statement.

The Pittsburgh Port Authority released a statement reporting that one of its buses struck a female pedestrian at DeSoto Street and Fifth Avenue shortly after noon. Pittsburgh police put the time at 12:25 p.m. She was taken to nearby UPMC Presbyterian, where she was pronounced dead by 2 p.m.

Port Authority police and the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police Collision Investigations Unit are investigating. Pitt Police are assisting.

“The driver is shaken up,” said Port Authority spokesperson Adam Brandolph. He declined to release any other information about the driver. The university was offering counseling services Saturday evening on campus.