(RepublicanInformer.com)- Last Tuesday, the death toll from the deadly rampage in Denver climbed to five after one of the victims shot on Monday died from her injuries.
The shooting began shortly after 5:00 pm on Monday, December 27 when 47-year-old James Lyndon McLeod entered a tattoo parlor near downtown Denver and opened fire, killing two women and critically wounding a man.
McLeod then shot and killed a man at a home in east Denver before opening fire at others on the city’s west side, hitting nobody. At that point, McLeod got into a running gun battle with Denver police. With police in pursuit, McLeod drove to the suburb of Lakewood where he entered another tattoo parlor and fatally shot a man.
McLeod then stormed into a hotel where he shot and gravely wounded a hotel clerk before he was shot and killed by a Lakewood police officer.
The hotel clerk, Sarah Steck, died of her injuries on Tuesday, bringing the death toll to five.
Police have not provided any possible motive for McLeod’s attack, except to say that all of his victims except the hotel clerk were known to him. What those ties are, however, the police have not said.
The Lakewood police officer who put an end to McLeod’s rampage had been shot in the abdomen before fatally striking McLeod. Lakewood police spokesman John Romero refused to name the officer, only calling her actions “heroic.” Romero praised the three-year veteran of the force for putting herself in harm’s way to stop a “horrendous” situation.
The officer required surgery for her gunshot wound but is expected to make a full recovery.
According to Paul Pazen, the Chief of the Denver Police, McLeod had been on the radar of local law enforcement since 2020 but has never been charged with a crime. However, Pazen would not discuss why McLeod was known to police.
In the wake of the shooting, the media uncovered McLeod’s prolific social media presence. He has been described as “alt-right” and a white identarian who allegedly promoted numerous right-wing conspiracy theories.
