COLORADO SPRINGS | An El Paso County man charged in a deadly shooting rampage in Black Forest northeast of Colorado Springs has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges.

El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa speaks to the press Tuesday, June 10, 2014, at the Sheriff's Office in Colorado Springs, Colo., about the details of the Black Forest Fire action report on the eve of the anniversary of the fire. Maketa wouldn't talk about the recent allegations of sexual improprieties in his office. (AP Photo/The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa speaks to the press Tuesday, June 10, 2014, at the Sheriff’s Office in Colorado Springs, Colo., about the details of the Black Forest Fire action report on the eve of the anniversary of the fire. Maketa wouldn’t talk about the recent allegations of sexual improprieties in his office. (AP Photo/The Gazette, Christian Murdock)
El Paso County Sheriff Terry Maketa speaks to the press Tuesday, June 10, 2014, at the Sheriff’s Office in Colorado Springs, Colo., about the details of the Black Forest Fire action report on the eve of the anniversary of the fire. Maketa wouldn’t talk about the recent allegations of sexual improprieties in his office. (AP Photo/The Gazette, Christian Murdock)

The Gazette reports 46-year-old Kenneth Lankford entered his plea Thursday in the November deaths of his wife, 51-year-old Terry Lankford, and 51-year-old Carol Fowler. He also is accused of shooting and wounding Fowler’s husband, 52-year-old Thomas Fowler.

According to testimony at a preliminary hearing last month, Kenneth Lankford allegedly told sheriff’s detectives he fatally shot his wife as a mercy killing after a gun accidentally went off and injured her. Few other details about the case have been released.

Lankford is due back in court in October.