5 killed, including gunman, in Denver area shootings: Police

Denver (US), December 28

A gunman killed four people and injured an officer in the Denver area, police said Monday.

The suspect also died Monday, Lakewood police said. Officers had exchanged gunfire with the suspect, KDVR reported.

The shootings started shortly after 5 pm in central Denver, where two women were killed and a man was injured, Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen said at a news conference.

A short time later, a man was fatally shot several blocks away, Pazen said. During that pursuit police officers exchanged gunfire with a suspect. The suspect then fled to the nearby city of Lakewood, Pazen said.

Just before 6 pm the Lakewood Police Department received a report of shots fired at a business said John Romero, a spokesman for that department.

A gunshot victim was later found and pronounced dead at the scene, Romero said. Police officers identified the car and the shooting suspect, Romero said. The suspect was not identified at the joint news conference.

Romero said that when the officers found the car, the gunman opened fire and officers shot back. The gunman then fled on foot to a Hyatt hotel, where he is believed to have shot a clerk. He also shot and wounded a Lakewood police officer after he left the hotel.

The wounded officer was undergoing surgery Monday night and his condition was not immediately known, a spokesman for the Lakewood Police Department said. The hotel clerk’s condition was not known.

The suspect was later shot in Lakewood and pronounced dead at the scene, Romero said. It was not immediately clear if police officers had shot him.

“This one individual was responsible for this very violent crime spree that took place this evening,” Pazen said. — AP

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