Gunman kills 4 in shooting spree across Denver area

The US experienced another mass shooting when a gunman shot and killed four people and wounded three others, including a police officer, in Colorado before he was killed by police.

The suspect in the killing spree late Monday evening across the Denver metro area and a neighboring suburb — which included a car chase and gun battles — was identified as Lyndon James McLeod, 47, authorities said.

He was killed in a shootout with officers in the Denver suburb of Lakewood, and his motive wasn't clear, a spokesman for the local police department told reporters.

Police believe McLeod fired a firearm in at least seven different locations across Denver and Lakewood.

Alicia Cardenas, owner of Sol Tribe Custom Tattoo and Body Piercing, was one of the victims, her father, Alfredo Cardenas, confirmed Tuesday, according to Colorado Public Radio.

The shooting spree was the 10th-most lethal of the year nationwide, according to Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit group that tracks gun violence nationally using a combination of police statistics and media reports.

The rampage was the latest of nearly 700 mass shootings in the US so far this year. The archive considers an incident in which four people are fatally shot or injured to be a mass shooting.

"To see this type of spree take place is not normal in our community," Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen said during a news briefing. "This one individual was responsible for this very violent crime spree that took place this evening."

The rampage began around 5 pm when the gunman shot and killed two women and wounded a man near downtown Denver, Pazen said.

McLeod then fled in a car and fatally shot a man in east Denver's Cheeseman Park neighborhood, before opening fire again in a west Denver community where no one was hit, Pazan said. The suspect twice exchanged gunfire from his vehicle with Denver officers pursuing him, disabling a police cruiser, Pazen said.

From there, the gunman drove into the neighboring city of Lakewood. Police responded to reports of an active shooter just before 6 pm, Lakewood police spokesman John Romero said. The suspect shot and killed a fourth person inside an unspecified business, according to Romero.

Romero said police were able to get a description of the vehicle and suspect involved in the incident. They were able to "make contact" with McLeod.

But Romero said the gunman fled from Lakewood police when they attempted to pull him over and engaged in a running gun battle with officers before fleeing on foot and entering a hotel, where he opened fire and shot a clerk who was later taken to a hospital.

The person's condition wasn't immediately known, according to the police spokesman.

"The shooter then fled the area again," Romero said, before coming "up against one of our agents" and firing a weapon. The officer was wounded and was undergoing surgery as of Monday night, he said.

After the officer was wounded, police and McLeod exchanged fire, and the suspect died, Romero said. It was the 13th mass shooting in Colorado this year. Of the 10 deadliest US mass shootings this year, three were in Colorado, including the year's deadliest, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

In March, a gunman killed 10 people in a grocery store at King Soopers in Boulder. In May, a gunman opened fire at a birthday party in Colorado Springs, killing six people before taking his own life. And last month, six teenagers were wounded in a drive-by shooting at a park in the Denver suburb of Aurora.

A June 2 shooting in San Jose, California, also left 10 people dead.