Four killings in one night can frighten even those not easily scared.

Colorado Springs resident awoke Thursday to find out there had been three unrelated shootings in less than three hours late Wednesday that left four people dead, including three teenagers, and two people wounded.

One of those wounded remained in critical condition and the other was shot by police in the second shooting involving law enforcement officers this week.

The violent night caps off a bloody month — five homicides in El Paso and Teller counties with four possible homicides Wednesday — and prompted Mayor Steve Bach and other officials to reassure residents that Colorado Springs isn’t a free-fire zone.

“It’s still a relatively safe community,” Bach said, while conceding “it needs to be safer.”

Crime statistics back the contention that Colorado Springs remains a safe place to live compared to other cities.

According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report for 2009, cities with populations similar to Colorado Spring’s 416,000, would be expected to have around 3,300 violent crimes. In 2009, the city had just under 2,000 violent crimes.

That’s not much comfort to residents worried that no area of the city seems to be safe from violence.

“It’s been going on here for about six weeks,” said Jan Martin, City Council president pro tem. “We’ve just had a whole rash of shootings, and it’s very concerning. There’s no doubt about it.”

National crime rates for most serious offenses, like rape, robbery assault and homicide, have decreased in the past several years, said Franklin E. Zimring, a professor at the University of California Berkeley Law School.

People, even those who don’t normally worry about crime, get concerned when something out of the ordinary happens, Zimring said.

“If you’re worried about a son or daughter being killed or maimed in 2011 in the United States, I will tell you right now that you worry about traffic first if you’re responding to reality,” Zimring said. “But we focus on atypical cases.”

Colorado Springs typically has about 20 to 30 homicides per year. Four in one night is an unusual circumstance, but no reason for panic, said James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston.

“Fear is not rational. They hear there’s been a surge in the number of killings, but it’s important to put them in context,” Fox said. “Nothing systematically has changed about life in Colorado Springs.”

Council President Scott Hente called the spate of violence “horrible” and outlined possible courses of action.

“I think the first thing we need to do is we need to make sure that we have a fully staffed Police Department and District Attorney’s Office, and fully funded. I’m positive that’s not the case right now,” he said. “Our police were stretched extremely thin last night.”

Given that most murders are committed by someone who knows the victim, Fox said, the passage of time will ease the initial shock over Wednesday night’s violence.

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Daniel Chacón contributed to this article.

Denver Broncos quarterback Kyle Orton throws a pass during NFL football training camp in Englewood, Colo., on Thursday, July 28, 2011. Photo by ED ANDRIESKI, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ed Andrieski