6 people killed in apparent murder-suicide at US birthday party

Six people were killed at a birthday party in Colorado Springs, Colorado, early on Sunday when a man opened fire inside a trailer home before taking his own life, NBC News is reporting.

The unidentified suspect drove to the party in a mobile home community, entered the trailer where people were gathered just after midnight and began shooting.

He is believed to be the boyfriend of one of the victims, according to Colorado Springs Police.

Children who were at the party were unharmed and are in the custody of family members, police said.

Colorado Springs Police Chief Vince Niski said officers and investigators working on the case are “left incredibly shaken”.

Authorities found six people dead at the scene and a man seriously injured when they arrived on scene. That man later died at a hospital. The victims have not been identified.

“This is something you hope never happens in your own community, in the place that you call home,” Niski said. “When these types of unspeakable acts happen, there is nothing that can be done to fully rebuild what was lost or replace those who are no longer with us.”

It was a “senseless act of violence” that has left the community mourning, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers said.

Neighbour Yenifer Reyes told The Denver Post she woke to the sound of multiple gunshots.

“I thought it was a thunderstorm,” she said. “Then I started hearing sirens.”

It was Colorado’s worst mass shooting since a gunman killed 10 people at a Boulder supermarket on March 22.

Colorado Springs, population 465,000, is Colorado’s second-biggest city after Denver.

In 2015, a man shot three people to death at random before being killed in a shootout with police in Colorado Springs on Halloween. Less than a month later, a man killed three people, including a police officer, and injured eight others in a shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in the city.