A five-hour standoff that began with a hail of bullets from a gunman tearing through Colorado Springs’ lone Planned Parenthood left the city gripped with fear on Black Friday about the state’s latest mass shooting.

Three people died, including a university police officer who raced to stop the gunman, and nine others were wounded in one of the bloodiest days in Colorado Springs history.

It ended with the surrender of Robert Lewis Dear, who walked out of the clinic into the snowy post-Thanksgiving night in handcuffs, a quiet surrender after hours of bloodshed in western Colorado Springs.

Investigators anticipated days of work ahead sifting through the massive crime scene – a nondescript clinic that has for years been the target of protesters and picketers near a busy shopping center on one of the busiest shopping days of the year.

Five of the wounded were law enforcement officers shot in the initial hail of bullets or during a standoff the gunman spent in silence. Police were unable to establish telephone contact or other communications with the gunman, whose violent outbursts came intermittently throughout the ordeal.

It ended only when officers aided with cameras inside the clinic entered the building and yelled for him to surrender, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers said.

He did – ending a “terrible, terrible tragedy,” Suthers said.

But the gunman left behind a trove of suspicious “items” – forcing bomb squad technicians from across the Pikes Peak region to spend hours in the snow and subfreezing temperatures to comb the clinic and its surrounding parking lot to ensure no explosives were left behind.

“It could have been much worse but for the actions of the first responders, particularity the police officers involved,” Suthers said.

Killed was Garrett Swasey, 44, a six-year veteran with the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Police Department. Despite working on campus Friday, he sought to back up Colorado Springs police several miles away.

The names of the other two people killed were not released Friday evening.

The nine people wounded in the shooting were in good condition Friday evening.

Through it all, one mystery about the rampage overshadowed all others: Why?

A law enforcement source confirmed that Dear was the man arrested. It was not clear where Dear is from or how old he is.

Fourth Judicial District Attorney Dan May refused to speculate on whether Dear would face domestic terrorism charges due to the shooting’s location at the clinic, which specializes in women’s reproductive health. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Troyer is consulting with local authorities about charges.

“At this point, I have as many questions as you do,” Colorado Springs Police Chief Peter Carey said.

Planned Parenthood’s branch in Colorado Springs, which offers women’s reproductive health services including abortions, has attracted protesters for years. The picketing became so intense that the organization moved in 2010 from Old Colorado City seeking a buffer from the protesters.

The clinic’s staff was “safe and accounted for,” according to a statement by Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, which also noted that it remained unknown Friday evening whether the clinic or personnel there were specifically targeted.

President Barack Obama was notified about the shooting by Homeland Security Advisor Lisa Monaco, and Colorado’s lawmakers on Capitol Hill expressed grief, as did Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.

The first report of bloodshed came at 11:38 a.m. with a 911 call reporting shots fired at the clinic, 3480 Centennial Blvd.

Ten to 20 rounds could be heard from a nearby hair salon, said Denise Speller, who watched in horror as an officer fell to the ground and another tried dragging him to safety near the drive-thru tellers at Chase Bank.

Several people inside the clinic also sought safety there as the shooting spree began.

A different officer soon came to the hair salon Speller manages, urging everyone to immediately shelter in place.

“We can’t stop shaking,” she said an hour later by telephone.

Ozy Licano, 61, stumbled into nearby King Soopers moments before it was placed on lockdown after watching the gunman shoot dead a man crawling to the clinic’s front doors. Glass shattered with each ensuing bullet in a barrage of gunfire.

“He was in front of me, and he was aiming at my face. And then I just hit the gas, and he started shooting,” Licano said.

Businesses across the shopping center were locked down, and nearby roads normally bustling with motorists were closed. For example, roughly 100 customers and 50 personnel were inside the King Soopers for much of the afternoon.

For hours, people remained inside the clinic and officers tried rescuing them.

During the standoff, the gunman only communicated with police by shooting at them, police said. For much of the afternoon, Colorado Springs police said they didn’t know his name.

No additional information on the suspect was released Friday evening.

On multiple occasions, a police armored personnel carrier rumbled to a stop at a massive staging area at Centennial Boulevard and Fillmore Street – each time unloading someone onto a stretcher and into an ambulance that raced away.

At the same time, other heavily armed officers jumped into the vehicle, one time amid shouts from nearby law enforcement officials for a sniper.

Some of the officers wounded Friday were conscious and talked to Carey and Colorado Springs Fire Chief Christopher Riley.

At least three of them were Colorado Springs police officers, and another was an El Paso County sheriff’s deputy.

The last time any police officers in the city were fatally shot in the line of duty was 2006, when Colorado Springs police detective Jared Jensen and patrolman Kenneth Jordan were fatally shot within 10 months of each other.

Police expected the investigation of the scene to take several hours, and several roads remained closed at 10:30 p.m. Friday: Fillmore Street from Chestnut Street to Mesa Road and Centennial Boulevard from its intersection with Fillmore to Valkenburg Drive.

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Billie Stanton Anleu, Lance Benzel, Wayne Heilman and Stephen Hobbs contributed to this report.