This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The suspect in a mass shooting at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs Friday has been identified by Colorado Springs Police.

Police say the suspect is confirmed as Robert Lewis Dear, 57. Local law enforcement officials reported that Dear listed his residency in the rural community of Hartsel, Colo.  which is about about 65 miles west of the clinic.  He reportedly also has ties to North Carolina.

Robert Dear, 57, was arrested as the suspect in a mass shooting that killed three and injured nine in a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs. (Photo: CSPD)
Robert Dear, 57, was arrested as the suspect in a mass shooting that killed three and injured nine in a Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs. (Photo: CSPD)

The incident began Friday at 11:38 a.m. in a Planned Parenthood clinic located at 3480 Centennial Boulevard.

One police officer and two civilians were killed. Five other police officers and four civilians were also shot. Lt. Catherine Buckley of the Colorado Springs Police Department said the nine injured people at Penrose and Memorial hospitals Friday night were in good condition.

KRDO reports that four patients arrived for treatment Friday with two discharged as of Saturday morning and two still in the hospital.

RELATED: Police officer and 2 civilians killed in Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood mass shooting

The police officer who died was a member of the University of Colorado – Colorado Springs Police Department. A statement from the Chancellor identified him as 44-year-old Garrett Swasey, a six-year veteran of the UCCS police department.  He was on duty and responded to assist following a report of an officer taking a fire at the Planned Parenthood clinic about 10 miles from campus.

Officers exchanged gunfire with a shooter inside the Planned Parenthood office during the course of the afternoon. It had not been confirmed if that organization was actually targeted, although police did confirm the incident began there.

The suspect surrendered to police just before 5 p.m. He was seen being taken away in handcuffs.

Buckley said Friday night that the suspect had brought items with him to the Planned Parenthood clinic. Police indicated the items may have been explosive in nature. There were reports they included propane tanks. They said he left items outside the clinic and inside it.

Those items were confirmed to no longer be a threat on Saturday morning by Colorado Springs Police, in a tweet from the City of Colorado Springs.

The Planned Parenthood office is located in a shopping center that includes a King Soopers grocery store and many other businesses. There were 24 other people who were evacuated, unharmed from the Planned Parenthood building. Official reported that 300 people were sheltered in place between the King Soopers and surrounding business.

Police were rescuing and escorting people out of the immediate area of the shooting scene Friday.  Police said Saturday at 7 a.m. that they had opened up the parking lot of the King Soopers and any personal cars left there could be picked up.

“It is a very complicated scene. It is going to take days for us to process,” Buckley said Friday.

Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff on all public building as a mark of respect for the victims of the shootings in Colorado Springs yesterday. Flags should remain lowered until further notice.

Fountain Mayor Gabriel Ortega and the City of Fountain released the following statement on the tragedy in Colorado Springs.

 “I, along with The City of Fountain City Council, Police and Fire Departments as well as the citizens of Fountain want to send our condolences to a Fallen Brother. Without hesitation Officer Garrett Swasey put himself in harms way to serve and protect and for that we are all grateful for his sacrifice.  We also want to send our condolences to the families of this officer, the civilians who lost their lives and everyone else who was either injured or affected by this horrible tragedy, Fountain stands with you. We offer any and all support to Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, the Colorado Springs and UCCS Police Departments as well as the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office.  Thank you to all of the First Responders for your steadfast dedication and courage in service to our community.”

An online fundraiser was set up for Swasey’s family by Hope Chapel in Colorado Springs, where Swasey was an Elder.

Dear remains in police custody on a no bond hold. He is scheduled to appear in court at 1:30 p.m. Monday in front of Chief Judge Gil Martinez, county court spokesman Rob McCallum said.

Identities  if the deceased victims will not be released until autopsies have been conducted by the El Paso County Coroner’s Office.

Life-saving courage

Somehow after all of it, Cowart said, none of the 15 Planned Parenthood workers on site that day was injured.

The credit for that can go to responding police like Swasey, a married father of two who’d been with the University of Colorado Colorado Springs police force for six years and who was once a national ice dancing champion, The Denver Post reported.

“The courage they displayed today saved many, many lives — no doubt,” Colorado Springs Fire Chief Christopher Riley said.

Speculation immediately swirled that Planned Parenthood was targeted because one of the services it provides is abortion.

Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains President and CEO Vicki Cowart issued the following statement Friday:

“Our top priority is the safety of our patients and staff. Our hearts go out to everyone involved in this tragic situation. Planned Parenthood has strong security measures in place, works closely with law enforcement agencies, and has a very strong safety record. 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. We share the concerns of many Americans that extremists are creating a poisonous environment that feeds domestic terrorism in this country. We will never back away from providing care in a safe, supportive environment that millions of people rely on and trust.”

At least three Planned Parenthood buildings have been vandalized since September, when the organization was criticized in Washington and by some Republican presidential candidates after an anti-abortion group released videos alleging that it sold fetal organs and parts for profit. Planned Parenthood has disputed the veracity of the videos, contending that they are heavily edited and provide a distorted account.

Obama: ‘Enough is enough’

In a statement Saturday, President Barack Obama didn’t mention the controversies surrounding Planned Parenthood, but he did offer praise for Swasey, condolences to the families of the victims and condemnation of the attack as another example of gun violence.

“The last thing Americans should have to do, over the holidays or any day, is comfort the families of people killed by gun violence — people who woke up in the morning and bid their loved ones goodbye with no idea it would for the last time,” Obama said. “And yet, two days after Thanksgiving, that’s what we are forced to do again.”

As he has time and again after mass shootings, the President called on policymakers to do something to prevent them.

“This is not normal. We can’t let it become normal,” he said. “If we truly care about this — if we’re going to offer up our thoughts and prayers again, for God knows how many times, with a truly clean conscience — then we have to do something about the easy accessibility of weapons of war on our streets to people who have no business yielding them.

“Period. Enough is enough.”