Seven people are dead, including the alleged gunman, after a shooting at a birthday party in Colorado Springs, Colorado, police said on Sunday.
Authorities responded to a shooting call at a RV park early Sunday, finding six adults dead and one man seriously injured. The man later died in the hospital, the Colorado Springs Police Department said in a press release.
Police said children at the trailer were not injured and are now with relatives.
The alleged shooter was the friend of a female victim at the party attended by friends, family and children. He went in and started shooting beforehanddie by suicide, said the police.
The neighborhood, lined with mobile homes with large yards, is usually quiet, the Denver Post reported.
Neighbor Yenifer Reyes told the newspaper that she woke up early Sunday to the sound of many gunshots.
“I thought it was a thunderstorm,” she said. “Then I heard sirens.”
She said the police took children out of the trailer and put them in at least one patrol car.
“They were crying hysterically,” she said.
Freddy Marquez told the Denver Post that he attended the party and that all victims were members of the same extended family celebrating the birthdays of Marquez’s wife and brother.
He said his family left early because his wife had to work early the next morning. His wife woke up around 4 a.m. to prepare for work and saw all of her missed calls.
She lost her mother and two brothers in the shooting.
“It’s just crazy, it’s not what we expected on Mother’s Day,” said Marquez. “I’m lost for words.”
In an initial report, the police said the shooter knew the victims. The police did not publish and say their namesYou’re still investigating a subject.
“Today we mourn and solemnly pray for those who have been injured and for those who lost family members in senseless violence on Sunday morning,” said John Suthers, mayor of Colorado Springs, in a statement.
Colorado governor Jared Polis said on Twitter that the shooting was “devastating, especially as many of us spend the day celebrating the women in our lives who made us who we are today.”
Police chief Vince Niski said in a statement that his “heart breaks for the families who have lost someone they love and for the children who have lost their parents” in the shooting.
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“When these kinds of unspeakable acts happen, nothing can be done to fully rebuild what was lost or to replace those who are no longer with us,” he said. “My vow to this ward and to the families who have lost someone today is that this department will do everything possible to find the answers you deserve and to serve you with unwavering support.”
Colorado Springs is about 70 miles south of Denver. It is Colorado’s second largest city after Denver.
The shooting marks Colorado’s worst mass shooting since the death of 10 people by a gunner in a Boulder supermarket in March.
Colorado had the sixth highest public mass murder rate among the 50 states in a database compiled by USA TODAY, Northeastern University, and The Associated Press in March.
In 2015, a man randomly shot and killed three people before dying in a shootout with police in Colorado Springs on Halloween. Just a month later, a man killed three people and injured eight more at a planned parenting clinic in the city.
At a movie theater in Aurora in 2012, a gunman killed 12 and injured 58.
In 1999, two Columbine High School students killed 12 more and one teacher before committing suicide.
Contributor: The Associated Press
