Colorado Springs massacre shooter identified

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A law enforcement official has identified the man who killed three people during a rampage through the streets of Colorado Springs as 33-year-old Noah Jacob Harpham.

The official with direct knowledge of the investigation was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation. The official on Monday confirmed Harpham's identity on the condition of anonymity.

Harpham posted a blog not long before the shootings took place Saturday morning, reports CBS Denver. The statements on the blog appear to be ramblings about his father's connection to a church in California. They make no mention that he might be about to go on a killing spree.

Witnesses say Harpham had a rifle in one hand and a revolver in the other when he killed a bicyclist who begged for his life as the shooter wordlessly fired on Saturday. He then walked less than a mile and fatally shot two women who were on a porch of a sober living home. Witnesses say he was then killed in a gunbattle with police.

Colorado Springs police have not officially released the names of the gunman or victims, pending the completion of autopsies.

Harpham allegedly was wearing a green jacket while calmly marching down the street near downtown shooting people.

Witnesses said the gunman first took aim at a young man riding a bicycle, and shot him several times and left him face-down on the sidewalk. Police found him with his backpack still on.

The shooter then roamed the streets with a AR-15 rifle in one hand and a revolver in the other. About a half-mile away, he turned suddenly, shooting two residents on the porch of a home for women in recovery. He then continued down the block as police closed in, shooting out the window of a squad car before officers fired back, said Matthew Abshire.

Abshire told CBS affiliate KKTV in Colorado Springs: "I looked out my kitchen window and I saw a man in a green jacket firing an AR-15. ... [I] waited a few seconds, went out of my house, looked to my left and saw a man down the street, probably 50 feet. I started following him and I called the cops."

Later, Abshire said it appeared to be a totally random act.

"He walked calmly and collectedly," he said. "His demeanor was like he was having a stroll in the park."