2021 Denver and Lakewood shootings

On December 27, 2021, a mass shooting occurred in downtown Denver and later moved to Lakewood, Colorado, United States, where 47-year-old Lyndon McLeod fatally shot five people and wounded two others. McLeod was ultimately killed by Lakewood Police Agent Ashley Ferris, after the two exchanged gunfire. Ferris had been shot and wounded by McLeod but was able to return fire from the ground.

McLeod, who knew most of his victims from the tattoo and cannabis scenes, held extremist and misogynistic views. He had been investigated by law enforcement in 2020 and 2021, but did not have any charges filed against him. During the years that preceded the shootings, McLeod had gained some fame by self-publishing a trilogy of science fiction novels under the pen name Roman McClay. The plot of those books involved scenes where the protagonist, named after the author, killed three of the people McLeod eventually targeted in real life.

Shootings and police response

Denver

At 5:25 p.m., Denver Police received 911 calls that reported a shooting inside of a local business, Sol Tribe Tattoo and Piercing. When police officers arrived at the scene, they found two women shot dead, the shop's owner Alicia Cardenas and one of its employees, Alyssa Gunn-Maldonado. Another employee, Jimmy Maldonado, was the third person shot by McLeod in the shop.