A gunman was arrested on Friday hours after opening fire at a Planned Parenthood family planning clinic in Colorado Springs in the United States. According to initial reports, at least three people were killed and nine injured in the incident. The attacker engaged in a gunfight with the police inside the building, officials told the Associated Press. He surrendered to the police five hours after the violence began, reported Reuters.
Colorado Springs mayor John Suthers confirmed that the deceased include two civilians and one police officer, reported AFP. The police said it was still searching for possible victims who might have been left behind in the clinic as the building was evacuated. The police also said, “We don’t have any information on this individual’s mentality, or his ideas or ideology.”
Planned Parenthood, a non-profit organisation that provides reproductive health services in the US, released a statement saying it did not know the full circumstances or motives behind the attack, or whether the organisation was the target. The organisation has been mired in a months-long scandal after anti-abortion activists released secretly recorded videos showing its officials discussing the use of aborted fetal tissue for medical research, reported AFP.
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