COLORADO SPRINGS — A gunman whose shooting spree Friday left three dead, including a police officer, acted calmly and with method as he moved through a Planned Parenthood clinic, Colorado Springs’ mayor said.
“They were able to get a feed from the security cameras in Planned Parenthood,” Mayor John Suthers recounted Saturday. “We were able to watch … and track his movements through the center.”
Suthers said the gunman, identified as 57-year-old Robert Dear, was dressed in a trenchcoat and carrying an automatic or automatic-style rifle. At one point, Dear even sat down in a chair, appearing untroubled, as officers surrounded him.
It wasn’t until SWAT officers in an armored vehicle rammed their way into the clinic’s front office that the gunman finally surrendered.
“He yelled to people that he was willing to give up,” Suthers said.
Suthers added that police were about to make a major assault on Dear in the moments before he was taken into custody.
Planned Parenthood security staff helped police with the clinic’s layout, e-mailing officers inside a diagram of its rooms and hallways. Officials say without the quick response of police, more would have died in the attack.
At one point, officers called over the radio that Dear had gone inside the Planned Parenthood and was firing out the windows at propane tanks placed around the clinic’s parking lot.
Authorities say Dear’s rampage also left nine others wounded, including four police officers and a sheriff’s deputy. All are expected to survive, police say.
Garrett Swasey, a police officer for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, was killed in the spree. Two civilians, who have not been identified, were also slain.
Emergency dispatch recordings showed the confusion and intensity of the situation as officers began to respond to Dear’s alleged attack, which began about 11:40 a.m.
As units began to respond, three loud beeps came over the radio.
“Attention all units, attention all units!” a dispatcher excitedly called. “CSPD is working an active shooter. Again, CSPD has an active shooter!”
And then, one woman was reported shot. A middle-aged man in a jacket, callers said, was walking around the outside of the Planned Parenthood branch on Centennial Boulevard opening fire.
And then the gunman turned his weapon at officers.
“He’s shooting! Stop there!” an officer called. “He’s shooting at you as you’re coming in!”
“I’ve been shot!” one officer said.
“I’ve been shot!” another said.
“Officer down!” said a third.
Officer Swasey arrived in the midst of the chaos and was killed.
“Shot! I’m shot!” an unidentified officer screamed over the radio about 12:10 p.m. so loudly his high-pitched yells were contorted. “I’m trying to get back to my car! I’m hit!”
Jesse Paul: 303-954-1733, jpaul@denverpost.com or @JesseAPaul
