Woman shot by husband at Denver office building dies
DENVER (AP) - A man who killed his estranged wife and himself at a busy downtown Denver office building had become increasingly mentally unstable and was banned from a local airport for unspecified comments he made, police said Wednesday.
The woman, who died early Wednesday, had filed for divorce in April and her husband had spoken about the possibility of violence against her, Cmdr. Ron Saunier said.
The Tuesday afternoon shooting sent panicked office workers scrambling to escape the Alliance Center, a building that houses several environmental organizations and provides shared workspaces. Other downtown buildings were locked down, and people were warned to stay away from the area, which is steps from a pedestrian mall in the trendy LoDo neighborhood near a major transit hub and about four blocks from Coors Field.
The shooter, who along with the victim has not been identified, shot himself and was dead before police arrived.
Saunier said he may have been detained on a 72-hour mental health hold at a hospital within the last two weeks. Authorities were trying to verify that information.
Saunier said investigators were still trying to determine how he obtained the handgun.
The victim, a 52-year-old woman who was the executive director of one of several non-profit organizations in the building, was critically injured and underwent surgery. She died Wednesday morning at a Denver hospital.
The 58-year-old gunman had traveled more than 120 miles northeast from Buena Vista, where he had been banned from the local airport "based on comments he had made," Saunier said.
"There had been some ramblings and some talks of him doing this," the commander said. "He was becoming more and more mentally unstable."
Saunier did not elaborate on what was said or to whom.
Police cleared the building floor by floor and found no other threat. They interviewed 100 witnesses and learned the gunman came in through a public entrance and chased the woman for a moment before opening fire.