Four killed in shooting spree in Denver area

No motive established as investigation into ‘shooting spree’ ongoing

Five people, including a suspect, are dead following a series of shootings in the area around Denver, Colorado.

The suspect shot and killed four people after firings around the Denver area on Monday night, police said. An officer was meanwhile injured.

According to Colorado Public Radio, officers from both the Denver and Lakewood police departments pursued the suspect, and exchanged multiple shots.

Gunshots rang out at about 5pm in downtown Denver, in the Baker Historic District, on Monday. Two women were killed and a man was injured.

A man was shot not long after at 12th and Williams, authorities have explained, and another in the the 1600 block of Kipling Street, roughly eight miles drive away from downtown Denver.

Lakewood police pursued an identified car into the Belmar shopping area where the suspect reportedly fled on foot and into the Hyatt House hotel.

Lakewood police spokesperson John Romero said the suspect died by a shooting wound and was pronounced dead at the scene – on the doorstep of the Hyatt House hotel.

It was not clear who shot the suspect.

The wounded officer was undergoing surgery Monday night and his condition was not immediately known, a spokesman for the Lakewood Police Department said.

Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen said at a news conference that an investigation was underway and said, “We need to dig in and find out what the motive was behind this”.

Flowers were left as a tributes to all four victims on Tuesday.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.