One of the three people killed in the shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado was a police officer working for a nearby university’s campus safety department.
Garrett Swasey, 44, was one of the people shot to death during a six-hour standoff between police and suspected gunman Robert Lewis Dear on Nov. 27, according to ABC News.
Swasey was working as a police officer at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, when he was called to assist with the active shooter situation. He went to the scene “in support of an officer under fire” according to the university chancellor. The clinic is roughly a ten minute drive from the university’s campus.
As an officer, Swasey had recently helped someone in a serious off campus car accident after a shift and is remembered around the university as someone who went above and beyond his call of duty. He’d been a police officer for six years.
Swasey was also a co-pastor at Hope Chapel in Colorado Springs and a former junior national couples ice dancing champion. He leaves behind a wife and two children.
Police are unsure of Dear’s motive for the shooting, which began around 11:30 a.m. and lasted for hours as police traded gunfire with the suspect. Nearby streets and businesses were closed down as people hid in offices and in the back of stores.
The other two people killed in the shooting were Ke’Arre Stewart, a 29-year-old combat veteran and father of two and Jennifer Markovsky, a 35-year-old mother of two. Nine other people were injured in the incident, although they are all reportedly in stable condition.
