By Keith Coffman
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) -A person shot six individuals to dying together with his girlfriend earlier than turning the gun on himself early on Sunday at a birthday celebration in Colorado Springs, Colorado, sparing the kids who had been current inside a trailer at a cellular house park, officers mentioned.
Police arrived to seek out six individuals useless plus a seventh who was severely wounded and died after being taken to a hospital, the assertion mentioned.
“The suspect, a boyfriend of one of many feminine victims, drove to the residence, walked inside and commenced capturing individuals on the occasion earlier than taking his personal life,” mentioned a press release launched by the Colorado Springs Police Division.
“Buddies, household, and kids had been gathered contained in the trailer to have a good time when the capturing occurred,” the assertion mentioned.
A motive has but to be decided.
The capturing occurred throughout the Canterbury Manufactured House Neighborhood, a cellular house park of some 470 trailers and largely Latino residents on the southeast facet of city, close to the Colorado Springs airport, about 70 miles (110 km) south of Denver.
Police blocked off the realm, the place a cellular crime lab was parked close to the house. A small group of adults stood close by, a few of them audibly sobbing, together with a small youngster.
Freddie Marquez, 33, mentioned his mother-in-law was one of many victims and that he was on the occasion however left round 10:30 p.m. on Saturday.
A while after midnight, he acquired a name from the son of one of many girls on the occasion, who was crying on the telephone.
“Anyone got here in and shot all people,” Marquez mentioned, relating what he had been advised on the telephone.
SPATE OF MASS SHOOTINGS
The bloodbath was the newest in a resurgence of mass shootings in the US after such occurrences appeared to recede through the peak of coronavirus pandemic restrictions.
Among the many incidents this 12 months was one in Boulder, Colorado, the place a 21-year-old man has been charged with killing 10 individuals in a March 22 capturing spree at a grocery store about 30 miles (50 km) northwest of Denver. That got here lower than every week after one other 21-year-old gunman was accused of killing eight individuals at three Atlanta-area day spas.
Colorado was additionally the state the place two different lethal rampages happened, each within the Denver space: the 1999 capturing at Columbine Excessive College that killed 15 individuals together with the 2 perpetrators, and the 2012 capturing in an Aurora movie show that killed 12 individuals and wounded about 70. The Aurora shooter is serving a life sentence.
The latest shootings have revived the gun management debate, with Democratic President Joe Biden calling them a “nationwide embarrassment” and calling for brand new laws from Congress.
However he faces critical opposition from gun rights advocates together with Republicans and a few Democrats who cite the U.S. Structure’s safety of gun possession rights.
Colorado Springs Police Chief Vince Niski mentioned that “my coronary heart breaks for the households” in Sunday’s assault and promised to assist them.
“My vow to this group and to the households who’ve misplaced somebody right this moment, is that this division will do the whole lot we will to seek out you the solutions you deserve and be right here for you with an unwavering assist,” Niski mentioned within the police assertion.
Police mentioned they withheld releasing particulars of the capturing for a number of hours “as a way to correctly and respectfully notify relations of the deceased and guarantee assist was in place.”
The names of the victims shall be launched later, the assertion mentioned.
