Gunman captured after killing 3 people in Colorado Springs, US
A man armed with a rifle killed three people including a police officer and injured several others at a planned Parenthood Clinic in Colorado Springs, United States on Friday. The man stormed inside the clinic and opened fire. A long firing battle ensued between the gunman and the police, which lasted for five hours before he surrendered.
Colorado Springs police chief Peter Carey told reporters that two civilians and a police officer were killed while nine people, including five police officers and four civilians, have been injured in the firing. Carey said that the injured are in a stable condition at the area hospital, The Guardian reports.
CNN reported that the gunman has been identified as Robert Lewis Dear, 59. No further information has been provided on his identity.
Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers commended the police for being able to stop the gunman and arrest him without allowing to cause any further bloodshed.
"I was watching the officers' movement within the building on security cameras and communicating to the officers who were in the building and it was the most incredible work of officers trying to minimise the fatalities and get this guy in custody," he said. "I was just incredibly impressed. While it's a terrible, terrible tragedy, the way the police handled this kept it from being an even worse tragedy," Suthers said, according to ABC.
Police is still not sure whether the Planned Parenthood family planning centre, which provides services like abortion, screening of sexually transmitted diseases and other services, was a target or a random choice.
"We don't yet know the full circumstances and motives behind this criminal action, and we don't yet know if Planned Parenthood was in fact the target of this attack," Vicki Cowart, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood, said in a written statement.
The police are combing the entire area inside and outside the building for explosives that could have been dropped by the gunman. Bomb technicians are also investigating a vehicle that they suspect could be the gunman’s.
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