Biodun Iginla, BBC News

Biodun Iginla, BBC News
Showing posts with label denver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label denver. Show all posts

Sunday, December 31, 2017

Colorado shooting: Four police officers injured, one dead

Emergency vehicles pictured nearby to scene of shootingImage copyrightDENVER 7
Image captionPolice were responding to a domestic disturbance at about 05:00 (12:00 GMT) at an apartment south of Denver
by Kathy DiNuzzo and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Denver
A police officer has been killed and four others have been injured in an "ambush-style attack" while responding to a verbal disturbance in Colorado.
The shooting happened at an apartment at Highlands Ranch, south of Denver.
Authorities confirmed two civilians, thought to be the shooter's neighbours, were also shot before the suspect was shot and killed by officers.
Residents in the area were put on "code red" alert and told to stay inside away from windows during the incident.
People were told to avoid the area while Swat officers responded. A bomb squad was also pictured at the scene.
At a news conference, Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock confirmed the dead officer was 29-year-old Zackari Parrish, who was married with two children.
He and the other officers were called to the property at about 05:00 (12:00 GMT) after neighbours confirmed about a verbal disturbance involving two male roommates at the property.
After being let into the apartment, they were shot by the suspect, who police say was known to law enforcement but did not have a criminal record.
Authorities say he used a rifle to fire at least 100 rounds before being killed. His identity has not yet been released while formal identification takes place.
Sheriff Spurlock confirmed the four injured officers, aged between 28 and 41, are in a stable condition.
Police also say the two injured civilians do not have life threatening injuries.
Officer Parish's body was escorted from hospital by a procession of dozens of law enforcement vehicles late on Sunday morning.
President Trump offered his condolences to the victims of the shooting on Twitter.
Colorado has seen some of the worst mass shootings in US history, including the 1999 Columbine High School shooting in which 13 people, including 12 students, were killed.
It happened just outside of the town of Littleton, which neighbours Highlands Ranch where Sunday's incident happened.
Over 15,000 people have been killed by guns in the United States in 2017, according to a list compiled by tracking website Gun Violence Archive.
That figure does not include an estimated 22,000 annual suicides using firearms.

More on this story

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

FBI: Denver girls may have tried to join jihadis

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DENVER  -- The FBI said Tuesday that it's investigating the possibility that three girls from the Denver area tried to travel to Syria to join Islamic State extremists.
An FBI spokeswoman says agents helped bring the girls back to Denver after stopping them in Germany. Spokeswoman Suzie Payne says they're safe and have been reunited with their families.
She didn't identify the girls or provided other details.
The announcement comes one month after 19-year-old Shannon Conley of Arvada, Colorado, pleaded guilty to charges that she conspired to help militants in Syria.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Denver declined to comment on the latest cases. It's unclear whether the girls will face charges.
Crimes committed by juveniles are treated as acts of "delinquency" in the federal system and are not handled the same way as crimes committed by adults.
Authorities have not said how the girls became interested in helping the Islamic State group. In Conley's case, she told agents she wanted to marry a suitor she met online who said he was a Tunisian man fighting with the Islamic State in Syria.
Conley said she wanted to use her American military training with the U.S. Army Explorers to fight a holy war overseas, authorities said. If she could not fight with the extremists, she told agents, she would use her training as a nurse's aide.
Agents, who had been overtly trying to stop Conley, arrested her in April as she boarded a flight she hoped would ultimately get her to Syria. She could face up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine when she is sentenced in January.
Foreign fighters from dozens of nations are pouring into the Middle East to join the Islamic State group and other terrorist organizations. U.S. officials are putting new energy into trying to understand what radicalizes people far removed from the fight, and into trying to prod countries to do a better job of keeping them from joining up.