Six members of the same family who were shot dead at a birthday party by one of the relative’s boyfriend have been identified.

Nuvia Marquez, 28, said she and her extended family were attending a joint birthday party for herself, her brother Melvin Perez, who would have turned 31 this week, and their mother, Joana Cruz, who would have turned 54, when one of the attendees turned the celebration into a massacre.

As well as Melvin and Joana, the others who tragically lost their lives at the party have been named as Nuvia’s other brother, Jose Gutierrez, 21, Melvin’s wife, Mayra Perez, 32, Mayra’s sister Sandra Ibarra and brother Jose Ibarra, reports the Gazette.

The shooter has been identified as Sandra Ibarra’s boyfriend, known to the family only as ‘Junior’, according to Nuvia’s husband, Freddy Marquez. Police have yet to formally identify the suspect in the killings but speaking to the Gazette, Freddy has claimed ‘Junior’ always carried a gun and was responsible for the bloodshed.

The shooting, which happened just after midnight on Sunday in Colorado Springs, is the fourth deadliest mass shooting event in Colorado’s state history.

According to police, officers responded to reports of a shooing at a mobile home to find six people dead, including the suspected shooter, and a man with serious injuries who later died at a hospital.

The suspect, the boyfriend of a female victim, apparently drove to the trailer where a birthday party was being held with friends and family. When inside the trailer, he began shooting party attendees in front of horrified children before taking his own life, police said in a statement.

Nuvia and her husband Freddy said they left the party at around 10pm and have paid tribute to their loved ones.

‘My mom had always liked celebrating them together’, Nuvia told the Gazette.

When the couple left Joana home, where the party was being held, ‘everybody was calm’, Freddy said.

Freddy described his mother-in-law, Joana, as a ‘loving’ and ‘hard working’ woman.

‘She was always laughing’, he said of the mother-of-four, Joana.

Her sons were ‘just like their mom’, he added. ‘They were all great people’, he said.

In a statement after the shooting on Sunday, Colorado Governor Jared Polis called the incident a ‘terrible act of violence’. He said the murders, on Mother’s Day, occurred as ‘many of us are spending the day celebrating the women in our lives who have made us the people we are today’.

‘Families torn apart, and at a birthday party, no less’, he said.

Meanwhile Colorado Springs mayor, John Suthers, called the shooting a ‘senseless act of violence’ and asked for the public’s patience as the Colorado police department investigates.

He said: ‘Today we find ourselves mourning the loss of lives and praying solemnly for those who were injured and those who lost family members.

‘We think, too, of the emergency personnel who responded to a horrific scene and we keep them in our prayers today.’

Colorado Springs Police chief, Vince Niski said officers and investigators who responded have all been left ‘incredibly shaken’.

‘This is something you hope never happens in your own community, in the place that you call home’, he said.

‘My vow to this community and to the families who have lost someone today is that this department will do everything we can to find you the answers you deserve and be here for you with an unwavering support.’

The department’s Violent Crimes Unit is leading the ongoing investigation, police said.

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