A police officer with the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs was among those killed in the rampage, police said.
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The suspect in a deadly shooting at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic was named on Saturday as Robert L. Dear, 57, the Colorado Springs Police public affairs’ section said in a Tweet.
Garrett Swasey, 44, who grew up in Melrose, was identified as the University of Colorado police officer killed while responding to reports of an active shooter at the clinic.
Police were also investigating several unidentified bags for explosives brought by Dear inside and to the front of the building, Colorado Springs Police Department Lt. Catherine Buckley said.
In a Twitter message released Friday by Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountain, a clinic spokesman said 28 other regional health centers will remain open “no matter what”.
Police and the gunman exchanged fire and Buckley said the suspect had used some kind of a “long firearm”. The suspect was arrested more than five hours later at 4:52 p.m. Police tell us officers were able to shout at the suspect to get him to surrender.
Of the nine victims that were hospitalized on Friday, five are police officers and four are civilians – all suffering from gunshot wounds. “We can’t let it become normal”.
“Enough is enough”, Obama says in a statement a day after a gunman killed three people at a Colorado clinic.
“I don’t think that was on his mind”, he said. Early reports suggested a man dressed in a trench coat and hat barricaded himself in the Planned Parenthood at 3480 Centennial Blvd. near a strip mall and bank. Jail booking records indicate that Dear is due in court on Monday.
At least two vigils have been planned to honor the victims of the shooting in Colorado Springs Friday.
Bryan Hawke, 35, a chiropractor who was locked down in his office across the street from the Planned Parenthood facility, told The New York Times the clinic is the site of protests “probably six days a week”, sometimes drawing as many as 200 people. “Period. Enough is enough”, he added. He has been cooperating with police since he was taken into custody.
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“I tried to get out of my auto and run, then I thought about that and said “no”.
