A gunman killed 4 people and wounded several others in a shooting spree across the Denver area, police say
Dec 28, 2021, 12:59 PM | Updated: Jun 8, 2022, 3:22 pm
LAKEWOOD, CO - DECEMBER 27: Police stand outside the Belmar shopping center where they say the suspect in a shooting spree that claimed five lives was shot and killed on December 27, 2021 in Lakewood, Colorado. The shootings occurred this evening at more than six separate locations across the metro area. Police say one officer was wounded while exchanging gunfire with the suspect. (Photo by Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)
(Photo by Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)
(CNN) — A gunman killed four people and wounded several others, including a police officer, Monday evening in a sprawling spree across the Denver metro area that included a car chase and gunfights with police, authorities said.
The suspect is also dead, authorities said. The motive isn’t clear.
The gunman allegedly opened fire at four places in the city and county of Denver, Police Chief Paul Pazen said late Monday at a news conference. There were more shooting locations in the suburb of Lakewood, about eight miles west of downtown Denver.
The rampage is among the latest of more than 675 mass shootings in the United States so far this year that left four or more people dead or injured, according to Gun Violence Archive.
The Denver-area shootings began just after 5 p.m. Monday when two women were killed and a man was injured at First Avenue and Broadway in the city’s busy South Broadway neighborhood, Pazen said.
A man then was killed several blocks away at 12th Avenue and Williams Street by Cheesman Park, Pazen said.
A third shooting took place near the Denver Health Emergency Department by Sixth Avenue and Cherokee Street, with no injuries reported there, the police chief said.
Denver Police officers identified a vehicle linked to this incident and chased it, leading to an exchange of gunfire between the suspect and officers, Pazen said.
“We believe the individual, after disabling the police car, fled into Lakewood,” he said.
Police in Lakewood then got a call of shots fired at a business on Kipling Street just before 6 p.m., Lakewood Police spokesman John Romero said during a news conference.
One person was pronounced dead at that scene, he said.
Lakewood Police found the suspect’s car, and as they approached, the driver began shooting and police returned fire, Romero said.
The suspect then ran to the Belmar shopping area and allegedly threatened another business with a firearm before taking cover at a Hyatt Place hotel, Romero said.
There, the suspect allegedly shot a clerk, he said. The clerk was taken to a hospital, but Romero said he did not know the extent of the injuries.
The suspect then fled that area and shot and wounded a Lakewood Police officer, Romero said. Police and the suspect exchanged more gunfire, and the gunman was killed, police said.
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