Colorado Police release mugshots of Planned Parenthood shooting suspect
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KTVU and wires) - Colorado Springs police released mugshots Saturday of the accused gunman in Friday's attack at a Planned Parenthood.
Investigators say 57-year-old Robert Lewis Dear, shot and killed a college police officer and two civilians, while wounding nine other people.
Dear has connections in South and North Carolina, police said.
The officer killed in the shootings was identified as 44-year-old Garrett Swasey. He was a six-year veteran of the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs Police Department.
Police encountered gunfire in their search for the gunman who opened fire near the clinic. Mayor John Suthers had initially confirmed the suspect was arrested and was in police custody after an hours-long standoff.
Police said 11 people, including five officers, were transported to area hospitals. Shortly before 6 p.m., law enforcement officials said one officer was killed in the attack. An evening news conference shortly afterwards revealed two civilians were also killed.
Police Lt. Catherine Buckley had previously said that there was an unknown number of casualties in the attack and standoff that ended around 4 p.m. Pacific Time.
“To even speculate on a motive would not be reasonable," Buckley said.
Authorities had evacuated people from the Planned Parenthood building during the incident as police tried to confirm the shooter's location. The first call of shots being fired at the clinic came before noon.
Responding officers exchanged gunfire with the shooter. Buckley said it was not known if the shooting had any connection to Planned Parenthood.
Denise Speller, manager of a nearby hair salon, said she heard as many as 20 gunshots in the span of less than five minutes.
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She told The 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 office knelt down 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."
Ambulances and police vehicles were lined up at the nearby intersection and police told people via Twitter to stay away from the shooting scene because it was not secure.
Mike Pelosi, who works at a deli at a nearby King Sooper grocery store, said he heard over the store's loudspeaker just before noon that nobody could leave the store.
Pelosi said customers and store employees were confused about what was going on but not panicked. He said a couple dozen customers were standing near the store entrance waiting for instructions.
The Planned Parenthood clinic is located next to a medical office building and near a shopping complex that included the King Sooper and other stores and restaurants.