Price isn’t in custody. He has returned to Fort Polk and is serving with his unit, the 10th Mountain Division, while the desertion charge is processed, said Kliem, the senior prosecutor who handles criminal prosecutions at the Louisiana base.

The idea is for Price to show that he can be a productive soldier, Kliem said. “That’s the only way you’re able to help yourself at this point.”

Price’s commanders must decide whether to proceed with a general court martial, under which Price could face an 18-month jail sentence if convicted, or a special court martial — a faster tracked process that carries a maximum 12-month sentence, Kliem said. If convicted, Price could also face either a dishonorable discharge or a bad conduct discharge, which is slightly less serious, Kliem said.

The Army has a 120-day speedy trial rule and that is just one reason the military expects to process the desertion charge against Price before he returns to Pittsburgh to face prosecution on the bank fraud charge, Kliem said. A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Pittsburgh confirmed that the desertion prosecution will take precedence but otherwise declined to comment.

The AP couldn’t immediately obtain a copy of that document, but an excerpt Kliem e-mailed Wednesday provides few details other than the Army contends Price left his unit “on or about July 2, 2010″ — or not quite six months after he enlisted on Jan. 19, 2010.

Once a soldier is absent without leave for 30 days, he can be officially dropped from the Army’s rolls and entered into the National Crime Information Center computer as a suspected deserter.

“So that if he’s picked up for another crime, it should pop up on any criminal history check that he’s wanted,” Kliem said.

That’s what happened when Price was arrested on March 2 in Pittsburgh, though Fort Polk officials didn’t learn of that until his detention hearing before a federal magistrate four days later, according to excerpt of the Army records provided by Kliem.

According to the FBI complaint filed last month, Price called Citibank in January pretending to be Allen and changed the address on one of Allen’s accounts from Seattle to Pittsburgh. He called back three days later to say he had lost his debit card and asked for a new one to be sent to him, the complaint said.

The card sent to the Pittsburgh address — which is where investigators believe Price lived with his parents — was used to attempt a $15,000 Western Union transaction and make a $658.81 payment on the Armed Forces Bank loan account, according to the complaint. Store security videos also captured images of Price trying to buy items at a video game store and a dollar store.

The fraud was detected by the bank, which alerted law enforcement officials, and none of Allen’s other accounts were accessed. Only the loan payment apparently was approved, according to court records and a spokesman for Allen. Citibank isn’t commenting on the case, citing customer confidentiality.

Price’s public defender on the FBI bank fraud charge hasn’t responded to requests for comment. A message was left Wednesday at Price’s Pittsburgh home number listed in court papers.

Price is entitled to a free military defense attorney on the desertion charge, though the AP couldn’t immediately confirm whether one had been appointed. Kliem said that might take a day or so because the desertion charge was filed only Tuesday.

There were no details about the second dead person. It also was unclear whether the seven wounded people were patients, employees or visiting family members, Wood said.

Gregory Brant said he was in a waiting room on the first floor of the clinic building when pandemonium broke out.

“We heard a bunch of yelling, some shooting, people yelling, ‘Hide! Hide!” he said. “Everyone’s yelling, ‘Stay down!’”

Brant, 53, and six other people, including a young girl and her parents, barricaded themselves inside the waiting room. But he said they did not feel safe because there were doors with windows along adjacent walls.

“The way the room was arranged, if he (the gunman) had gone to either window and would have seen us in there, he could have done whatever he wanted,” Brant said.

The group crouched in a corner, hoping the gunman wouldn’t see them as he went past, Brant said. The men in the group decided on the spot that if the gunman entered the room, they would rush him.

“We were kind of sitting ducks,” Brant said. “Luckily, he didn’t see us in there, and we didn’t make eye contact with him.”

Brant estimated the ordeal lasted 15 or 20 minutes.

Neighboring buildings were placed on lockdown for hours, police said.

Wood said media reports about a possible second gunman and a hostage situation at the clinic or at UPMC Presbyterian hospital were unfounded.

A SWAT team was on the scene shortly after the shooting. A street was blocked off, and the area thronged with police. Most students are on spring break, though offices and buildings have been open.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center said it had received some patients from the shooting. It said two patients were in intensive care, two were released and three were being admitted. All were expected to survive.

The clinic, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, is located in the city’s Oakland neighborhood, a couple of miles east of downtown, and is affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and one of several affiliated hospitals adjacent to the university campus. Other schools are nearby, including Carnegie Mellon, Carlow and Chatham universities.

Pete Finelli, who lives two blocks from the clinic and once worked there as a student nursing assistant, said security guards are always at the part of the building where it the shooting is believed to have occurred, on the ground floor.

Patient rooms are on the upper floors, he said, but anyone on the first floor would have to be someone being either admitted or discharged.

“The only place a person would be on the first floor is the emergency room,” he said.

Pitt sent out email and text alerts shortly after 2 p.m. to warn people of the shooting.

“An active shooter has been identified at Western Psychiatric Institute. Several injured,” the alert said. “Possible second actor in Western Psych. Lockdown recommended until further notice. If safe to do so, tell others of this message.”

Lawton Snyder, executive director of Pitt’s Eye and Ear Foundation, said he and two other staffers were locked down about a block away, in a building that connects to the clinic. He said it was unnerving.

“Obviously I’m terribly sad for those injured. We’re just hoping everybody’s OK and things are resolved quickly and that they can apprehend those who are responsible,” he said.

Patient Kevin Bonner, who was staying on the building’s ninth floor, several floors above the shooting scene, said there was a normal atmosphere there, with patients in the common room listening to music, watching TV, drinking and eating snacks. Bonner said no one at the hospital had told them what was going on.

“They are probably just trying to keep a calm atmosphere,” he said.

He said he had been napping and awoke to hear an announcement on the intercom: “Bronze Alert on the first floor.”

“I didn’t think I was hearing my ears right until I looked out the window” and saw police cars and a sniper, he said.

The alert and lockdown ended Thursday evening, but the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center asked that people avoid the clinic while the investigation continued. People were free to go when and where they pleased at the two network hospitals nearest the clinic, UPMC Presbyterian and UPMC Shadyside, which also had been locked down earlier in the day.

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Associated Press writers Mike Rubinkam in Allentown and Kathy Matheson and JoAnn Loviglio in Philadelphia and news researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report.

There were no details about the second dead person. It also was unclear whether the seven wounded people were patients, employees or visiting family members, Wood said.

Gregory Brant said he was in a waiting room on the first floor of the clinic building when pandemonium broke out.

“We heard a bunch of yelling, some shooting, people yelling, ‘Hide! Hide!” he said. “Everyone’s yelling, ‘Stay down!’”

Brant, 53, and six other people, including a young girl and her parents, barricaded themselves inside the waiting room. But he said they did not feel safe because there were doors with windows along adjacent walls.

“The way the room was arranged, if he (the gunman) had gone to either window and would have seen us in there, he could have done whatever he wanted,” Brant said.

The group crouched in a corner, hoping the gunman wouldn’t see them as he went past, Brant said. The men in the group decided on the spot that if the gunman entered the room, they would rush him.

“We were kind of sitting ducks,” Brant said. “Luckily, he didn’t see us in there, and we didn’t make eye contact with him.”

Brant estimated the ordeal lasted 15 or 20 minutes.

Neighboring buildings were placed on lockdown for hours, police said.

Wood said media reports about a possible second gunman and a hostage situation at the clinic or at UPMC Presbyterian hospital were unfounded.

A SWAT team was on the scene shortly after the shooting. A street was blocked off, and the area thronged with police. Most students are on spring break, though offices and buildings have been open.

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center said it had received some patients from the shooting. It said one patient was in intensive care, two were released and four will be admitted, three of them requiring operations in the next day. All were expected to survive.

The clinic, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, is located in the city’s Oakland neighborhood, a couple of miles east of downtown, and is affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and one of several affiliated hospitals adjacent to the university campus. Other schools are nearby, including Carnegie Mellon, Carlow and Chatham universities.

Pete Finelli, who lives two blocks from the clinic and once worked there as a student nursing assistant, said security guards are always at the part of the building where it the shooting is believed to have occurred, on the ground floor.

Patient rooms are on the upper floors, he said, but anyone on the first floor would have to be someone being either admitted or discharged.

“The only place a person would be on the first floor is the emergency room,” he said.

Pitt sent out email and text alerts shortly after 2 p.m. to warn people of the shooting.

“An active shooter has been identified at Western Psychiatric Institute. Several injured,” the alert said. “Possible second actor in Western Psych. Lockdown recommended until further notice. If safe to do so, tell others of this message.”

Lawton Snyder, executive director of Pitt’s Eye and Ear Foundation, said he and two other staffers were locked down about a block away, in a building that connects to the clinic. He said it was unnerving.

“Obviously I’m terribly sad for those injured. We’re just hoping everybody’s OK and things are resolved quickly and that they can apprehend those who are responsible,” he said.

Patient Kevin Bonner, who was staying on the building’s ninth floor, several floors above the shooting scene, said there was a normal atmosphere there, with patients in the common room listening to music, watching TV, drinking and eating snacks. Bonner said no one at the hospital had told them what was going on.

“They are probably just trying to keep a calm atmosphere,” he said.

He said he had been napping and awoke to hear an announcement on the intercom: “Bronze Alert on the first floor.”

“I didn’t think I was hearing my ears right until I looked out the window” and saw police cars and a sniper, he said.

The alert and lockdown ended Thursday evening, but the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center asked that people avoid the clinic while the investigation continued. People were free to go when and where they pleased at the two network hospitals nearest the clinic, UPMC Presbyterian and UPMC Shadyside, which also had been locked down earlier in the day.

___

Associated Press writers Mike Rubinkam in Allentown and Kathy Matheson and JoAnn Loviglio in Philadelphia and news researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report.