Colorado Springs: Three people were killed and nine wounded on Friday when a gunman opened fire at a family planning centre in Colorado, officials said.
"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 Colorado attorney general tweeted about a "tragic loss of life," without confirming the number of dead, and five police officers were among the wounded, Colorado Springs officials said, in the latest incident to shed a damning light on America's gun culture.
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Mayor John Suthers paid tribute to police for getting the gunman into custody without further bloodshed at the Planned Parenthood building, where people scrambled into a safe room in a desperate bid to save themselves.
"I was watching the officers' movement within the building on security cameras and communicating to the officers who were in the building and it was the most incredible work of officers trying to minimize the fatalities and get this guy in custody," he said.
Dan May, center the district attorney of Colorado 4th Judicial District, speaks to members of the media after a shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic Friday, Nov. 27, 2015, in Colorado Springs. (Photo: AP)
"I was just incredibly impressed. While it's a terrible, terrible tragedy, the way the police handled this kept it from being an even worse tragedy."
Colorado Springs Fire Chief Chris Riley said that 11 people had been taken to hospital, five of them police officers.
It was also not immediately clear if the Planned Parenthood family planning center had been specifically targeted.
Abortion is one of the services provided for women by Planned Parenthood and the association has become a lightning rod for criticism by social conservatives.
The women's health care giant has also been mired in a months-long scandal after anti-abortion activists released secretly recorded videos showing the organization's officials discussing use of aborted fetal tissue for medical research.
- Gunfire rings out -
An officer stands guard near a Planned Parenthood clinic Friday, Nov. 27, 2015, in Colorado Springs, Colo. A gunman opened fire at the clinic on Friday, authorities said, wounding multiple people. (Photo: AP)
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.
An unknown number of people were left inside the clinic with the shooting, 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. The immediate vicinity was placed on lockdown and people were told to stay indoors.
Buckley said the shooter was armed with some kind of "long weapon" with a shoulder stock such as a rifle and some witnesses reported hearing automatic fire.
- Specific target? -
Police stand guard near a Planned Parenthood clinic Friday, Nov. 27, 2015, in Colorado Springs, Colo. A gunman opened fire at the clinic on Friday, authorities said, wounding multiple people. (Photo: AP)
Quan Hoang, the owner of a nearby nail salon, told CNN that when he heard the gunfire break out, he feared a robbery was under way at a bank in the shopping area, which would have been bustling with people looking to pick up a bargain in the Black Friday sales.
"And we see cops, SWAT, the bomb squad, a whole bunch of people just trying to take cover around the Planned Parenthood area," he said by telephone.
"An officer came back in and said, 'Is everyone safe?' We asked him questions and he said they've barricaded him inside the Planned Parenthood and he was shooting out from the windows."
A White House official said that President Barack Obama had been notified of the incident by his Homeland Security Advisor Lisa Monaco.
Vicki Cowart, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains, said that her initial information was that none of her staff or patients had been killed or injured.
Cowart said that she did not believe the center had been specifically targeted.
"We're very pleased that our own security systems were operating at top-notch," she told CNN.
That included rushing into a safe room.
"They were able to hunker down and some got out early throughout the afternoon, but those that didn't were in a safe spot," Cowart said.
