Police have identified the gunman who killed five people in a shooting spree in Denver and nearby Lakewood Monday as Lyndon James McLeod. Police said Tuesday that McLeod, 47, apparently knew many of his victims and was already "on the radar" of law enforcement, the Denver Post reports. McLeod died during an exchange of gunfire with police in Lakewood but authorities haven't confirmed whether he was killed by a police bullet. A female Lakewood officer injured in the exchange of fire was in stable condition in an intensive care unit Tuesday, reports CBS Denver. Police say she was able to fire back at McLeod after she was hit.
Four victims died Monday and the fifth, hotel clerk Sarah Steck, died from her injuries Tuesday, reports the AP. Law enforcement sources tell Denver7 News that McLeod had extremist views and a history of psychiatric episodes. Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen told reporters Tuesday that McLeod was investigated in 2020 and 2021, but no state or federal charges were filed. The Colorado Sun reports that four of the five people killed either worked at tattoo parlors or were killed near tattoo parlors.
According to state records, McLeod owned a tattoo business called Flat Black Ink, which was deemed delinquent by state authorities in 2017. The location is now home to a business called World Tattoo Studio, and police say McLeod chased and shot at two people in the area during Monday's rampage. Alfredo Cardenas tells the Denver Post that his daughter Alicia Cardenas, owner of Sol Tribe Custom Tattoo in Denver and mother of a 12-year-son, was killed when McLeod opened fire at the business at the start of the shooting spree. Relatives say fellow Sol Tribe tattoo artist Alyssa Gunn-Maldonado was also killed. (More Denver stories.)
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