Keith Coffman
Denver - A man who fatally shot his girlfriend and five other people at a Colorado birthday party last weekend before killing himself had "power and control issues" and was upset because he was not invited to the gathering, police said on Tuesday.
The shooting spree erupted inside a mobile home in Colorado Springs, about 110 km south of Denver. It was the latest in a resurgence of mass shootings in the United States after they receded during the height of coronavirus pandemic restrictions.
The gunman, identified as Teodoro Macias, 28, had been dating one of the victims, 28-year-old Sandra Ibarra-Perez, for about a year, a relationship that Colorado Springs Police Chief Vince Niski said was marked by “power and control issues.”
“At the core of this horrendous act is domestic violence,” Niski said in discussing the motive behind the rampage.
Armed with a Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm semiautomatic pistol, Macias burst into the home and opened fire at the gathering of 10 adults and three children before he turned the gun on himself, homicide detective Joe Frabbiele told reporters.
One adult escaped unharmed and the three children, aged 2, 5, and 11, were not physically injured but witnessed the murders, he said.
The handgun was not purchased by Macias, and detectives are still investigating how he came in possession of the weapon, Frabbiele said, adding that it was not reported stolen.
The other victims were identified as Melvin Perez, 30, Mayra Ibarra De Perez, 33, Jose Gutierrez, 21, Joana Cruz, 52, and Jose Ibarra, 26. All were part of an extended family.
It was the second mass shooting in Colorado in less than two months.
On March 22, a gunman fatally shot 10 people, including a responding police officer, at a grocery store in Boulder, about 50 km north-west of Denver. The gunman has been charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and dozens of related charges.