AFP, Colorado Springs :Three people were killed and nine injured when a gunman opened fire at a family planning center in Colorado on Friday. The standoff dragged on for five hours before the gunman surrendered.”I want to convey to the loved ones of the victims, this is a terrible, terrible tragedy that occurred here in Colorado Springs today,” Mayor John Suthers told reporters. “Obviously, we lost two civilian victims, we mourn the loss of a very brave police officer.The perpetrator is in custody. The situation has been resolved and there’s no continuing peril to the citizens of Colorado Springs,” said Mayor John Suthers. It was not immediately clear if the family planning center had been specifically targeted.Abortion is one of the services provided for women by Planned Parenthood and the association has become an lightning rod for criticism by social conservatives.Earlier, there had been fears that the unidentified gunman might have explosives with him, and police were carefully combing the scene after the siege came to an end when he surrendered.Speaking at the scene before the standoff ended, police spokeswoman Lieutenant Catherine Buckley warned that the gunman had taken “items” and bags inside the building with him. “Numerous” people had been evacuated from the clinic as the incident played out, but some were left inside with him, she had said, on what had been a regular working day at Planned Parenthood, a day after the Thanksgiving holiday.A sheriff’s department SWAT team with at least one armored vehicle and several ambulances had also been on standby, as the evening drew in on the snowy scene.
