Community shaken after three homicides in the span of an hour overnight in Colorado Springs
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) is now investigating three homicides that took place within one hour Monday night, stretching police resources and triggering an accident alert status for the city.
"The three calls that happened in that short period of time, that was the manpower intensive," explained Robert Tornabene, CSPD Public Information Officer. "You add a lot of bodies into a location for a period of time, and they're dedicated. They can't leave that location.”
Between 8:54 p.m. and 9:54 p.m. Monday, CSPD asked citizens to only call dispatch if their life or safety was in immediate jeopardy. This was in response to officers responding to the three deadly calls for service.
At 7:18 p.m., police responded to a shooting on the 900 block of North 19th Street, where they found one male with a gunshot wound.
He later died in a local hospital from his injuries.
The second call came in at 7:50 p.m. Officers were dispatched to East Cimarron Street for a reported assault in progress. When they arrived, they found a man dead at the scene.
That homicide took place just around the corner from restaurants and businesses, including Coati.
Lazlo Steele, a manager there, says employees saw police lights but didn't think it was anything unusual.
"It wasn't until they left and saw the police were still there, and the discussion came up, that they realized something had happened," said Steele.
He says the event has pushed public safety to the forefront of conversation for businesses on the block.
"We definitely don't want this area to be known for activity like that," said Steele.
Twenty-eight minutes later, police responded to a third call for service on the 500 block of Erie Road.
CSPD officers were dispatched to a reported body in a home's garage and found a deceased female upon arrival.
"It's disturbing of course," said Penny Babb, a Colorado Springs resident living near Erie Road. "It will make me check my windows and doors a little bit more before I go to bed."
