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Fifth victim dies after Denver-area shooting rampage that left an officer wounded

A police officer stands outside Sol Tribe Tattoo and Piercing in Denver, where two women were fatally shot Monday and one man wounded. (Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)

Officials and families on Tuesday began to identify victims of shootings the previous evening that stretched from Denver to Lakewood, Colo., and left five people dead and two injured, including a police officer. The suspected gunman was later killed in a shootout with police.

Three of the shooting victims had ties to the local tattoo artist community, and the identity of the fourth was pending as of Tuesday night. In a news conference Tuesday, authorities said a fifth person had died after being shot at the hotel where she was working on Monday.

Police said that Lyndon James McLeod, 47, had been investigated twice in the past year and a half before he went on a shooting “rampage” Monday, but that no charges had been brought as a result of those inquiries.

It was unclear Tuesday why McLeod had attacked several people the night before.

The Denver County medical examiner’s office did not respond to requests to confirm names of the deceased on Tuesday, but family members and friends identified their loved ones to local media.

Alicia Cardenas, the 44-year-old owner of Sol Tribe Tattoo and Piercing, and tattoo artist Alyssa Gunn-Maldonado, 35, were among those killed.

Cardenas’s father, Alfredo Cardenas, described his daughter to Denver’s ABC7 news channel as gregarious and friendly, as well as “a very determined person.”

“She knew where she was going,” Cardenas said, noting that his daughter is survived by a 12-year-old daughter.

A verified fundraiser for Gunn-Maldonado’s family said the 35-year-old was killed and her husband, Jimmy Maldonado, was shot and remains hospitalized. He is expected to recover, Lakewood Police Department spokesman John Romero said Tuesday evening.

“The Denver tattoo & yoga community lost an incredible friend and teacher in a tragic incident last night,” Thea Jaworski, a friend of Gunn-Maldonado, wrote on the fundraiser page.

A third victim, Danny Scofield, 38, was killed at Lucky 13 Tattoo in Lakewood, where he worked. Romero confirmed his death at Tuesday’s news conference.

“He was my best friend,” Scofield’s sister, April Potter, told Denver’s Fox affiliate KDVR. “The best person I’ve ever met in my life. I don’t know who I’m going to turn to, because he’s the person I turned to for everything.”

Potter told the news channel that her brother was a father to three children.

Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock (D) assured residents earlier Tuesday that Denver police, who are leading the joint investigation, were working to determine why the shooting took place.

“A terrible, heartbreaking and senseless act of gun violence stole the lives of several members of our community last night and injured others, including a Lakewood police officer,” Hancock said in a statement. “I’m praying for those lives lost, the victims and their families.”

Victims’ families and friends are “suffering,” Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen said at Tuesday’s news conference, where he urged people to focus on the victims. He said police would continue to investigate to try to establish a motive.

The attacks began at Sol Tribe Tattoo and Piercing in Denver, where police were called about 5:25 p.m. for a report of a shooting, authorities said. McLeod shot two women and a man at the shop, according to Matt Clark, commander of the Denver Police Department’s major crimes division.

Afterward, authorities said, McLeod went to a residence near a park and killed a man there. Authorities had not identified the man as of Tuesday night.

Police then found the suspect’s vehicle and pulled him over, Clark said, and McLeod opened fire on one officer. That gunfire “appears to have disabled the police officer’s vehicle,” according to Clark.

Then the gunman fled.

At 6:55 p.m., police received a report of shots fired at Lucky 13 in Lakewood, according to that city’s police department. That’s where officers found Scofield, who had been fatally shot.

McLeod then went to a Hyatt hotel and shot employee Sarah Steck, who died at a hospital, according to Romero.

He approached an officer, who ordered him to drop his weapon, but McLeod opened fire, Romero said, and hit her once in the abdomen. She returned fire, striking him. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

“She is in stable condition and doing well,” Romero said of the officer, whom he declined to identify Tuesday evening. She was wearing a bulletproof vest.

Romero said the officer “probably saved” lives.

“We are beyond proud of her actions,” he said.

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