Rampager wrote of slain victims
Self-published novels name people he shot, Denver police say
DENVER — A man accused of killing five people in a rampage in Denver is believed to have written fictional books self-published online that named some of his real-life victims and described similar attacks.
The writings are part of the investigation into what led Lyndon James McLeod to carry out the shootings Monday in less than an hour around the city, Denver police spokesman Doug Schepman said Wednesday.
McLeod, 47, knew most of the people he shot in several locations around the metropolitan area, through business or personal relationships, police have said. Four of the people who were shot were attacked at tattoo shops. Two others were wounded, including a police officer who shot and killed McLeod after being injured.
In the first novel, written under a pen name of Roman McClay, a character named Lyndon stalks a poker party held by a character named “Michael Swinyard” and gains access to a building near Cheesman Park by posing as a police officer. He then fatally shoots everyone at the party and robs them before fleeing with his dog in a van.
In Monday’s attack, Swinyard, 67, was fatally shot at a home near Denver’s Cheesman Park, police said.
In McLeod’s second novel, which also features a character named Lyndon, McClay names Alicia Cardenas as a victim. The book also mentions the tattoo shop she owned, Sol Tribe.
Cardenas, 44, was among his first victims in Monday’s rampage. She was killed at her shop, along with another woman, Alyssa Gunn, 35. A man who was also wounded there is expected to survive, police said. He was identified by friends and customers as Gunn’s husband, James Maldonado, a piercer.
Matt Clark, commander of the Denver Police Department’s Major Crimes Division, said Tuesday that the gunman did not know the last person he shot — a clerk in a hotel in Lakewood’s Belmar shopping area — Sarah Steck, 28, who died of her injuries Tuesday.
Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen said during a news conference that McLeod was on the radar of law enforcement officers and had been investigated in 2020-21. He declined to say what McLeod was investigated for but said charges were not filed against him.
The shootings started around 5:30 p.m. in central Denver along Broadway, a busy street lined with shops, bars and restaurants, where two people were killed at Sol Tribe Tattoo & Piercing.
Soon after the shooting at Cardenas’ shop, McLeod forced his way into a residence that is also home to a business.
He pursued the occupants through the building and fired shots, but no one was injured, Clark said. Then he shot and killed Swinyard, Clark said.
Later, Denver police chased the vehicle believed to have been involved in the shootings, and an officer exchanged gunfire with McLeod, Clark said. McLeod was able to get away, fleeing into Lakewood, after gunfire disabled the officer’s cruiser, he said.
Just before 6 p.m., the Lakewood Police Department received a report of shots fired at the Lucky 13 tattoo shop. Danny Scofield, 38, was killed there, police spokesperson John Romero said.
When officers spotted the car suspected of being involved in the shooting at the Belmar shopping area McLeod opened fire and officers shot back, Romero said. He ran away and threatened some people in a restaurant with a gun before going to the Hyatt House hotel, where he spoke briefly with Steck before shooting her, he said.
About a minute later, a Lakewood police officer saw McLeod and ordered him to drop his weapon. She was shot in the abdomen but fired back at him, Romero said.
The wounded officer, whose name has not been released, underwent surgery Monday night. She is expected to make a full recovery.