Novelist Mounted Killing Spree To Bring His Violent Novels To Life In Denver; 5 Dead, 3 Injured

A novelist was shot and killed by police after he launched a killing spree across Denver on Tuesday, which rubbed out at least five people and injured three others, according to police.

Police identified the gunman as Lyndon McCleod, 47, who targeted tattoo shops around Denver. He had been under police watch for some time and had also been probed in 2020 and early 2021, Denver police Chief Paul Pazen confirmed.

McLeod began his rampage around 5:25 p.m. local time at a Denver tattoo parlor, where he fatally shot two women, owner Alicia Cardenas, 44, and Alyssa Gun Maldonado, the New York Daily News reported. His ambush also injured Maldonado’s husband, Jimmy.

Following the incident, the man proceeded to terrorize a nearby residence, where he opened fire but did not harm anyone. Moving to another home, McLeod would take out a police badge and tactical gear before killing 67-year-old Michael Swinyard inside.

Responding Denver police officers then traded gunfire with the suspect, who fled to Lakewood, a nearby suburb, where he fatally shot Danny Scofield, 38, inside another tattoo shop. Police would catch up to him and exchanged fire, at which point the assailant opted to run on foot into a Hyatt hotel.

His escape would also leave the hotel's desk clerk, 28-year-old Sarah Steck, dead from bullet wounds.

When Lakewood police finally cornered McLeod, the man was told to drop his weapon, which he refused to do and instead hit one of the officers in the abdomen. The female officer, who is expected to survive, would fire back and kill him.

Investigations unraveled that before the fatal shooting rampage, McCleod wrote a violent, misogynistic three-book series titled “Sanction” under the pseudonym Roman McClay. The book follows a persona named after him, Lyndon McLeod, who “commits 46 murders” in the book, CBS4 noted.

He would self-publish the stories under Flat Black Ink Corp., which an Amazon reviewer said was an “800-page alt-right rant.” Police added that the novels appeared to have similarly described the real-life attacks that McLeod committed across Denver on Tuesday.

According to the Daily Beast, McLeod's alt-right philosophies, including masculine supremacy, contrarian COVID-19 beliefs, and targeted violence against the “weak," were greatly reflected in the violent, misogynistic three-book series “Sanction” that he wrote under the pseudonym Roman McClay.