COLORADO POLICE PROBE BIRTHDAY PARTY MASS SHOOTING THAT LEFT SEVEN DEAD

COLORADO SPRINGS, US: Investigators are seeking a motive and will possibly release the names of the victims and the shooter on Monday after a Sunday morning massacre at a Colorado home where a man killed six adults and then himself in the presence of children.

The gunman, described as the boyfriend of one of the victims, walked into a birthday party shortly after midnight on Sunday and opened fire before taking his own life, the Colorado Springs police department said.

Police arrived to find six people dead plus a seventh who was seriously wounded and died after being taken to a hospital.

“The children at the trailer were uninjured by the suspect and are now with relatives,” the statement said.

The Denver Post quoted neighbour Yenifer Reyes as saying she was awakened by the sound of gunfire and heard sirens before witnessing police take children out of the home and put them into a squad car.

Family, friends and children were celebrating a birthday inside a trailer at the Canterbury Manufactured Home Community, a mobile home park of largely Latino residents in southeast Colorado Springs, about 110km south of Denver.

Police disclosed few details about the victims other than that one was the girlfriend of the shooter and another was the person celebrating a birthday.

The gun massacre was the latest in a resurgence of mass shootings in the United States after such occurrences seemed to recede during the height of coronavirus pandemic restrictions.