At least three people, including a police officer, are confirmed dead following a shootout in a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs on Friday, Nov 27.
The siege, which lasted for more than five hours, involved a lone gunman who entered the clinic and started shooting. Police officer Garrett Swasey, 44, was working in the University of Colorado, which was less than 15 miles away from the clinic. He immediately went into the scene to support a police officer who was caught in a crossfire when he was hit.
The other two are identified as civilians, although the Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains president and CEO Vicki Cowart has already issued a statement, saying that as far as they know, none of their employees and their patients were killed during the shootout.
Besides the casualties, nine more people including four civilians were brought to the closest hospitals after having been hit by gunshot. As of Friday night, they were reported to be in stable condition.
The first gun shots were fired around 11:30 a.m. when a person inside the clinic dialed 911. When the police arrived, they immediately cordoned the area, leaving several people such as shoppers in a nearby grocery trapped inside the business establishments. They were ordered not to go out while the shootout was still happening.
The police were having a hard time at first since they were unsure whether the gunman also had explosives inside the building. A van in a parking lot, believed to be owned by the suspect, was also cordoned. After six hours of communication with the gunman and able to enter the building, the police had taken the man into custody.
The motive still remains unclear, although Planned Parenthood clinics have been subjected to different kinds of attacks in the past. The organization is also embroiled in controversies including the sale of fetal tissues to laboratories, as captured by a series of leaked videos. Some states have already planned on cutting funds for Planned Parenthood.
Cowart, however, believes that it's an act of domestic terrorism.
