Shooting at Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs

One Colorado police officer and two civilians were killed Friday in a shooting at Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs.

According to police, the victims include two civilians and one police officer.

He was from the University of Colorado, about 10 minutes away from the clinic, and had responded to a call to help city officers. “A five-hour stand-off then ensued”, Al Jazeera’s Jim Hooley reported from the scene.

A number of people were trapped inside the clinic while the stand-off with police took place. “They’re in good condition”.

Colorado Springs was the scene of a mass shooting on October 31 in which a gunman killed three people near downtown before dying in a shootout with police.

Planned Parenthood is a healthcare non-profit-making group with 59 affiliates and 700 clinics around the USA, some of which provide abortion services.

Police engaged with the shooter inside the Planned Parenthood health center and are receiving gunfire. The gunman shot another officer close to two hours later, Buckley told the Associated Press.

A gunman who killed three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado started firing in the parking lot – unleashing a barrage of bullets with a “cold stone face”, a witness said. The recall was primarily motivated by new gun control laws in Colorado – following the Aurora cinema shootings in Denver – which banned magazines holding more than 15 rounds, and demanded a universal background check for all gun purchases.

“There’s no continuing peril to the city of Colorado Springs”, Mayor John Suthers said in a statement following the apprehension of the gunman.

One suspect is in police custody, according to spokesperson Catherine Buckley.

Authorities said they haven’t determined a motive or whether the shooter had any connection to Planned Parenthood. I heard someone shooting. As officers responded, the gunman opened fire, killing 3 and injuring several others.

The suspect had exchanged gunshots with officers, police said.

“And we see cops, SWAT, the bomb squad, a whole bunch of people just trying to take cover around the Planned Parenthood area”, he said by telephone. Police have closed Centennial boulevard in both directions and ordered nearby stores and restaurants to keep customers inside.