LAKEWOOD, Colo. (KDVR) — Investigators have identified the man who killed five people during a shooting spree in Denver and Lakewood Monday night.
Lyndon McLeod, 47, was killed by police at the Belmar shopping center in Lakewood after he carried out shootings in at least six locations.
Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen said the suspect had been on law enforcement radar during two recent investigations, one in 2020 and another in 2021, but neither resulted in charges.
Three of the victims were at tattoo shops when they were killed. Alicia Cardenas and Alyssa Gunn-Maldonado were at Sol Tribe Tattoo and Piercing on Broadway in Denver, Danny Scofield was at Lucky 13 Tattoo on Kipling Street in Lakewood. Additionally, a woman working at the Hyatt House in Belmar was killed by McLeod inside the hotel.
Another shooting scene, located at 6th Avenue and Cherokee Street in Denver, is where the Secretary of State’s office says McLeod once owned a tattoo shop called Flat Black Ink.
Police said they believe the suspect was targetting all of the people he shot, although they did not release a motive.
FOX31 Investigative Reporter Rob Low spoke to Gabriel Thorn, a man who bought his home from the suspect about five years ago.
“There were numerous hidden gun safes in the walls of this house,” Thorn said. “He just disappeared off the face of the earth when we bought the house. My wife and I joke that he’s changed his name and moved out of the country.”
In fact, McLeod had somewhat changed his name. He wrote and published a series of books called “Sanction” under the name Roman McClay.
The suspect named the main character in the book after himself, and in a YouTube interview said the premise is that the narrator is artificial intelligence.
The last listed address for the suspect was in Las Animas County. Other than some minor traffic infractions, the Problem Solvers were not able to find any criminal history for him.