COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — A man suspected of being the shooter who opened fire Friday at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, killing three people including a police officer, has been taken into custody, ending a four-hour standoff in which a gunman traded fire with police and terrorized people who fled the facility.
The dead officer was identified Friday night as Garrett Swasey, 44, a six-year veteran with the police department at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.
“UCCS officers are sworn, state-certified police officers. Officer Swasey was on duty at the campus and responded in support of Colorado Springs Police,” said Pam Shockley Zalabak, university chancellor, in a statement.
“It is with great sadness that I share that the tragic events today at the offices of Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs have touched the campus of the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs,” she said.
Along with Swasey, two civilians were killed. Five other police officers and four civilians were injured.
The standoff ended about 6 p.m. Mountain time after a chaotic afternoon. “The perpetrator is in custody,” Mayor John Suthers said shortly after the gunman’s arrest.
Police said the gunman might have brought explosives to the clinic. Colorado Springs Police Department spokeswoman Catherine Buckley said the shooter was seen bringing items inside the clinic.
“This is not a stable scene,” Buckley said before the suspect was taken into custody.
The shooting was first reported at 11:40 a.m. Friday.
Much of the west side of the city was shut down after the shooting, and people inside a nearby shopping center were told to take shelter inside stores. Penrose Hospital said in a tweet that it had received six patients.
It was not immediately clear whether Planned Parenthood was the intended target of the shooting.
At least a dozen ambulances waited on West Fillmore Street, about two miles from Planned Parenthood.
“The first (job) as officers is to ensure the public is safe,” Buckley said. “We are doing our job, but it’s tough when our officers are involved.”
Heavy snow and rain made driving difficult the day after Thanksgiving in the city, which sits 6,035 feet above sea level. Patches of black ice made the roads slippery and rolling flurries lowered visibility.
Shelley Satulla was driving her mother and two young children to the King Sooper grocery store near the Planned Parenthood clinic when police ordered her to pull over.
“I didn’t know what to think. It was mass chaos,” Satulla said in an interview. “It was crazy. They were yelling, ‘Shelter in place, shelter in place.’”
Denise Speller, manager of a nearby hair salon, said she heard as many as 20 gunshots in the span of less than five minutes. She told the Colorado Springs Gazette newspaper that she saw a police cruiser and two officers near a Chase Bank branch, not far from the Planned Parenthood facility.
One of the officers appeared to fall to the ground and the other knelt to help and then tried to get the officer to safety behind the car, she said. Another officer told Speller to seek shelter inside the building.
“We’re still pretty freaked out,” Speller said by phone. “We can’t stop shaking. For now we’re stuck back here not knowing.”
Copyright 2015 Los Angeles Times
Tribune News Service
