Advertisement

Police: 3 dead in Colorado Planned Parenthood shooting; gunman in custody (w/video)

 
An officer from the Colorado Springs K-9 Unit is being transferred from a tactical vehicle to an ambulance before being transported from the scene during a shooting incident in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Friday. [Daniel Owen | Colorado Springs Gazette via TNS]
An officer from the Colorado Springs K-9 Unit is being transferred from a tactical vehicle to an ambulance before being transported from the scene during a shooting incident in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Friday. [Daniel Owen | Colorado Springs Gazette via TNS]
Published Nov. 28, 2015

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A gunman who opened fire inside a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic was arrested Friday after engaging in gunbattles with authorities during an hours-long standoff that killed three people and wounded nine others, officials said.

Two people and a police officer with the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs were killed in the rampage, law enforcement officials said.

The university police department identified the officer killed as 44-year-old Garrett Swasey, a six-year veteran of the force.

Nine other people, including five police officers, were shot and are in good condition, police said.

The gunman was identified as Robert Lewis Dear of North Carolina, the Associated Press reported, citing a law enforcement official. The official, who had direct knowledge of the case, spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak to the media about the ongoing investigation.

Authorities said they haven't determined a motive or whether the shooter had any connection to Planned Parenthood.

"We don't have any information on this individual's mentality, or his ideas or ideology," Lt. Catherine Buckley said.

Planned Parenthood released a statement that said it did not know the full circumstances or motives behind the attack, or whether the organization was the target.

Black-clad tactical officers stood guard with guns in hand, ambulances lined up and dozens of shoppers and employees were ordered to lock their businesses' doors and stay away from the windows.

The encounter could be heard in transfixing detail on the police scanner, with authorities describing how they had driven a BearCat armored vehicle into the Planned Parenthood building, smashing through two sets of doors into the lobby and rescuing some of those inside.

"We're exchanging gunfire," one officer said on the radio. "We are trying to keep him pinned down."

"Put gunfire through the walls," came a reply. "Whatever, we got to stop this guy."

Video from the Denver Post showed a tall man in a white T-shirt being led away by police as snow fell on the frigid evening.

A number of people were evacuated during the standoff — some wrapped in blankets in the blowing snow — to a nearby Veterans Administration clinic.

For several hours, the firing of a long gun was the only indication police had that the shooter was in the building, Buckley said. Officers finally made voice contact by shouting to him and convinced him to surrender, she said.

With the immediate threat over, authorities turned their attention to inspecting unspecified items the gunman left outside the building and carried inside in bags.

Keep up with Tampa Bay’s top headlines

Keep up with Tampa Bay’s top headlines

Subscribe to our free DayStarter newsletter

We’ll deliver the latest news and information you need to know every morning.

You’re all signed up!

Want more of our free, weekly newsletters in your inbox? Let’s get started.

Explore all your options

Three officers were shot while responding just before noon local time to the initial report of shots fired. More than two hours later, the gunman shot another officer in an exchange with police inside the clinic, Buckley said.

The suspect surrendered about five hours after entering the building.

The shots sent people inside the clinic racing for cover. Jennifer Motolinia hid behind a table inside the clinic and called her brother, Joan, who said he heard multiple gunshots in the background.

"She was telling me to take care of her babies because she could get killed," Joan Motolinia said of his sister, the mother of three.

He rushed to the clinic but was frustrated because a police barricade kept him from getting close.

At Fusion Nails, in the shopping complex south of the Planned Parenthood center, Quan Hoang said he was working when he saw police cars swarming in the parking lot near a bank down the street. He stepped outside and heard three gunshots, and officers told the shop's workers and customers to go inside, lock the doors and stay away from the windows.

About two hours after the first reports of gunshots, Hoang said three officers were still posted outside his front door, one of them brandishing a shotgun.

"It's unreal," Hoang said.

Information from the New York Times was used in this report.