Denver shootings suspect wrote books previewing attacks

DENVER (AP) — A man accused of killing five people in a rampage in Denver is believed to have written fictional books self-published online that named some of his real-life victims and described similar attacks.

The writings are part of the investigation into what led Lyndon James McLeod to carry out the shootings, which took place in less than an hour Monday at several locations around the metro area, Denver police spokesman Doug Schepman said Wednesday.

McLeod, 47, knew most of the people he shot through business or personal relationships, police have said. Four of those shot were attacked at tattoo shops. In addition to those killed, two other people were wounded, including a police officer who shot and killed McLeod after being hit.

In the first novel, written under a pen name of Roman McClay, a character named Lyndon stalks a poker party held by a character named “Michael Swinyard” and gains access to a building near Cheesman Park by posing as a police officer. He then fatally shoots everyone at the party and robs them before fleeing with his dog in a van.

In Monday's attack, Michael Swinyard, 67, was fatally shot at a home near Denver’s Cheesman Park, police said.

In his second novel, which also features a character named Lyndon, McClay names Alicia Cardenas as a victim. The book also mentions the tattoo shop she owned, Sol Tribe.

Alicia Cardenas, a 44-year-old tattoo artist, was among his first victims in Monday's rampage. She was killed at her tattoo shop, along with another woman, Alyssa Gunn, 35. A man who was also wounded there is expected to survive, police said. He was identified by friends and customers as Gunn’s husband, James Maldonado, a piercer there.

That shop is less than a mile (1.6 kilometers) from a tattoo shop that McLeod was listed as the...