A gunman killed four people and injured several others, including a police officer, in a shooting spree that spanned Denver and Lakewood on Monday night.
The suspect also died Monday, Lakewood police said. Officers had exchanged gunfire with the suspect in at least two areas.
The gunman’s motivation was not clear. His identity was not released Monday night.
“As far as what started (this), that is part of the investigation,” Denver police Chief Paul Pazen said at a news conference. “We need to really dig in and find out what the motivation behind this was.”
The shootings started shortly after 5 p.m. in central Denver at the intersection of West 1st Avenue and Broadway, where two women were killed and a man was wounded, Pazen said.
A short time later, a man was fatally shot several blocks away at the intersection of East 12th Avenue and Williams Street, Pazen said.
Authorities also believe that the suspect fired a gun during the spree near the intersection of West 6th Avenue and Cherokee Street in Denver, but no one was hurt.
During a pursuit, Denver police officers exchanged gunfire with the suspect.
“Fortunately, our officers were not injured as a result of this incident,” Pazen said.
The suspect then fled to the nearby city of Lakewood, Pazen said.
Just before 6 p.m. the Lakewood Police Department received a report of shots fired at a business in the 1500 block of Kipling Street, said John Romero, a spokesman for that department. A gunshot victim was later found and pronounced dead at the scene, Romero said.
Police officers identified the car involved in the shootings and the suspect, Romero said, and began following him.
Romero said that when the officers found the car in the area of the Belmar Shopping Center, the gunman opened fire and officers shot back. The gunman then fled on foot to a Hyatt Place hotel, where he is believed to have shot a clerk.
He also shot and wounded a Lakewood police officer after he left the hotel.
The wounded officer was undergoing surgery Monday night and his condition was not immediately known, a spokesman for the Lakewood Police Department said. The hotel clerk’s condition was not known.
The suspect was later shot in Lakewood and pronounced dead at the scene, Romero said. It was not immediately clear if police officers shot him or if the suspect shot himself.
“This one individual was responsible for this very violent crime spree that took place this evening,” Pazen said.
The Associated Press and Colorado Sun staff writer Jesse Paul contributed to this report.