News / Society

Four dead, including suspect, in Colorado Springs shooting spree

Saturday, 31 October 2015 10:54 PM [ Last Update: Sunday, 01 November 2015 12:06 PM ]

The rear window of a Colorado Springs Police car is shattered after a shooting Saturday, Oct. 31, 2015, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. (AP photo)

Four people are dead, including a suspected gunman, following a shooting spree in downtown Colorado Springs in the US state of Colorado.

Authorities said the deadly incident happened on Saturday and that the suspect died after an exchange of gunfire with police.

Police responded to an emergency call of shots fired and hunted down the gunman, who fired shots at them before they returned fire, according to El Paso County Sheriff's Office.

El Paso County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Jacqueline Kirby said police killed the suspect near a Wendy's restaurant. “The crime scene investigation covers multiple city blocks.”

Several eyewitnesses told CBS News affiliate KKTV that the suspect went on a shooting spree in the minutes leading up to the encounter with police outside the restaurant.

"I looked out my kitchen window and I saw a man in a green jacket firing an AR-15...waited a few seconds, went out my house, looked to my left and saw a man down the street, probably 50 feet. I started calling him and I called the cops," witness Matt Abshire told The Colorado Springs Gazette.

The United States has experienced more than one mass shooting a day in 2015, with 10,746 people dead and 21,865 others injured so far this year.

Every year, more than 30,000 people are shot and killed in the United States.

The US averages 87 gun deaths each day as a function of gun violence, with an average of 183 injured, according to the University of Chicago Crime Lab and the Centers for Disease Control.

About 4.5 million firearms are sold annually in the United States at a cost of 2 to 3 billion dollars.

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