Four people were killed and three were injured, including a police officer, in what authorities described Monday as a “killing spree” in the Denver metro area.
The suspect, who has not been identified, was killed by officers in the Denver suburb of Lakewood, a spokesman with the local police department told reporters.
Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen said during a news conference that the shootings began around 5 p.m. in Denver. Four people were shot at two locations, three fatally, before gunfire erupted between the suspect and Denver police.
No Denver officers were injured, but the suspect disabled their vehicle before fleeing to Lakewood, Pazen said.
There, police responded to reports of an active shooter just before 6 p.m., Lakewood police spokesman John Romero said. One person was pronounced dead at the scene, he said.
The suspect then opened fire at a Hyatt hotel, shooting a clerk who was later taken to a local hospital, Romero said. The person’s condition wasn’t immediately known, Romero said.
After wounding a Lakewood police officer, the suspect was fatally shot by other officers in the department. The injured officer was undergoing surgery, Romero said.
It wasn’t clear what prompted the shootings or how they were linked. But Pazen said his officers had tried to “stop this suspect from this killing spree.”