Two civilians and a police officer were killed when a gunman opened fire at a clinic in the US state of Colarado during a nearly six-hour stand-off on Friday, a media report said. A suspected gunman was held.
The suspected gunman is Robert Lewis Dear, 59, a law enforcement official told CNN without providing additional information about the firing incident at the Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic, located near a shopping center and numerous offices.
It could not be immediately ascertained why the clinic was targetted or who Dear is.
Police captured him, but they're still working to pinpoint his motive -- and make sure he didn't leave any explosives inside or outside the Colorado Springs building, the report said.
A clinic official said the motive behind the attack was unknown.
"We don't yet know the full circumstances and motives behind this criminal action, and we don't yet know if Planned Parenthood was in fact the target of this attack," Vicki Cowart, president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, said in a written statement.
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"We share the concerns of many Americans that extremists are creating a poisonous environment that feeds domestic terrorism in this country...," the official added.
Cowart told CNN she believes all staff and patients from the clinic are accounted for.
"We're still reaching out to confirm individuals, how they are. I believe no one of our staff was severely injured. I also believe at this time that none of our patients were injured," she told CNN.
The shooting brought life to a standstill as police closed roads and people were trapped inside businesses for hours in a busy corner of the central Colorado city, with more than 400,000 residents.
Planned Parenthood, a national health care provider, delivers reproductive health care and sex education to women and men across the US. It runs nearly 700 health centers throughout the US, according to its website.