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The Killer "Alpha Male" | The Case of Lyndon Mcleod
Coffeehouse Crime's 25-minute breakdown, the fullest single telling on file.
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On December 27, 2021, a mass shooting began in downtown Denver, Colorado, and moved to nearby Lakewood. The perpetrator, 47-year-old Lyndon McLeod, fatally shot five people and wounded two others before being fatally shot by Lakewood Police Agent Ashley Ferris, who was herself wounded in the exchange.
The shootings began around 5:25 p.m. at Sol Tribe Tattoo and Piercing in Denver, where McLeod killed shop owner Alicia Cardenas and employee Alyssa Gunn-Maldonado, and wounded another employee, Jimmy Maldonado (Gunn-Maldonado's husband). McLeod then attempted to force his way into the apartment of tattoo artist Jeremy Costilow, posing as a delivery man; Costilow and his girlfriend fled with their child before McLeod broke in with a sledgehammer, fired shots, and set their van on fire. Around 5:45 p.m., McLeod shot and killed building contractor Michael Swinyard near Cheesman Park. Shortly after, he exchanged fire with a Denver police officer, disabling the officer's patrol car, and fled toward Lakewood.
In Lakewood, McLeod entered the Lucky 13 Tattoo Parlor around 5:58 p.m. and killed tattoo artist Danny Scofield. He then went to a Ted's Montana Grill, where he threatened a staff member at gunpoint but did not shoot anyone, before exchanging gunfire with police near a Wells Fargo bank. Around 6:10 p.m., he entered the Hyatt House Hotel and fatally shot desk clerk Sarah Steck, who was filling in for a sick colleague and had no prior connection to McLeod. Around 6:15 p.m., McLeod encountered Officer Ashley Ferris; after a brief verbal exchange, McLeod shot Ferris in the abdomen, paralyzing her right leg, but she returned fire from the ground, hitting him three times. McLeod was pronounced dead at the scene.
McLeod had known most of his victims through Denver's tattoo and cannabis business scenes, and had a history of business disputes and personal grievances against several of them. Between 2018 and 2020, he self-published a three-volume science fiction novel titled "Sanction" under the pen name Roman McClay, in which a character based on himself murdered fictionalized versions of several people he later killed in real life, including named real addresses. McLeod had espoused misogynistic and extremist views associated with parts of the "manosphere" online community, and had been investigated by law enforcement, including the FBI, in 2020 and 2021, but no charges had been filed against him prior to the shootings.
In the aftermath, Ferris was honored by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund and awarded the Purple Heart and Medal of Distinguished Service by the Lakewood Police Department. Community memorials were held for the victims, and Cardenas was later honored through a documentary and a museum exhibit.
