Cop, 2 more dead in Colo. Planned Parenthood shootings

Trevor Hughes and Doug Stanglin | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Colorado Springs shooter is in custody, several injured After an hours-long standoff, a shooter who opened fire at a Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado Springs has been taken into police custody. Video provided by Newsy

COLORADO SPRINGS — A police officer and two civilians died Friday after a man wearing hunting gear and armed with a "long gun" went on a shooting spree inside a Planned Parenthood clinic here, police confirmed Friday night.

The University of Colorado - Colorado Springs identified the dead officer as Garrett Swasey, 44, who was assisting Colorado Springs police in the incident.

Swasey was a six-year veteran of the university police department, according to a statement from Pam Shockley Zalabak, university chancellor.

"The officer who gave his life today alongside the other officers put the lives of civilians in peril above his own," the Colorado Fraternal Order of Police said via Twitter. "He died to save others."

Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Coffman tweeted, "My thoughts and prayers are with families of victims of today's standoff in Colorado Springs. Tragic loss of life in #PPShooting."

The civilians killed in the shooting were not Planned Parenthood employees. The organization said in a statement that its staffers at the location were accounted for.

The alleged shooter was taken into custody Friday evening after barricading himself inside the clinic and engaging in the shooting rampage that left an officer and two civilians dead. Nine other people were injured in the shooting, including five officers, authorities said.

Colorado Springs police Lt. Catherine Buckley confirmed the gunman's capture.

The shooter was identified by sources as Robert Lewis Dear, 57, of South Carolina, KUSA-TV reported.

In a dramatic operation earlier Friday, with the gunman still on the loose, officers crept into the Planned Parenthood building and rescued six or seven civilians cowering in a bathroom nearby. They then proceeded to evacuate others from the building.

At one point, police warily eyed the shooter from a distance. He was described as bearded, stocky, wearing a trench coat and armed with an AK-style weapon. Some officials described the main weapon as a "long gun."

Buckley, spokesperson for the police department, said the suspect brought some "items" with him into the clinic, but she could not say whether these were dangerous devices.

White House officials said that President Obama has been notified about the situation in Colorado by his Homeland Security advisor and will be updated as needed.

Vicki Cowart, president of Planned Parenthood, said in a statement: "The heart of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains is broken tonight as we try to make sense of the horrific tragedy that struck our beloved health center in Colorado Springs today. Our thoughts are with the all those who were impacted and particularly the families of the two civilians and one heroic law-enforcement officer whose lives were lost."

Cowart noted that the shooter's motives remain unknown, as does whether Planned Parenthood was targeted deliberately.

The National Abortion Federation pointed to a series of anti-abortion videos released earlier this year, saying the videos have resulted in an unprecedented increase in hate speech and threats against abortion providers.

"We have been quite worried that this increase in threats would lead to a violent attack like we saw today," Vicki Saporta, president and CEO of the group, said in a statement.

Earlier, a law enforcement source told KKTV that one of the officers had been hit in the hand.

During an office to office search through the afternoon, officers reported automatic gunfire coming from the building,

Buckley said the incident began when police got a call at 11:38 a.m. that a gunman had entered the building. Responding officers, she said, "encountered active gunfire." . Police do not know what connection, if any, the gunman has with Planned Parenthood, she said.

Denise Speller, manager of a nearby haircut salon, said she heard as many as 20 gunshots in the span of less than five minutes, the Associated Press reports.

She told The Gazette 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 render aid 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."

Joan Motolinia tells USA TODAY that he was on the phone when the shooting broke out, trapping his sister inside the clinic.

"I have no idea my sister is alive or not," he says.

Over the next hour, police on scene, where snow was falling and temperatures had dropped to 21 degrees, reported to the dispatcher that the gunman was firing at them repeatedly.

"Rounds are coming through the window," said one officer.

Officers described the gunman was wearing a long coat and a hunting-type hat.

One officer told the dispatcher that the gunman shot out the back window of his patrol car as the officer tried to "get a look at him," the newspaper reports.

At another point an officer, speaking to the dispatcher, said, "We have another officer down by the dumpster."

A dispatcher said one person was wounded at Elite Vision, an eye care center near Planned Parenthood on Centennial Blvd, The Gazette reports. The newspaper said one victim was taken by stretcher to an ambulance.

Planned Parenthood is located on Centennial Blvd. less than a half mile west of Interstate 25 in northwest Colorado Springs.

It was the second shooting incident in a month. On Oct. 31, a gunman shot and killed three people near downtown Colorado Springs before he died in a shootout with police.