The white-bearded suspect wore a padded vest with black straps, which authorities described as a standard-issue “safety smock”. He gazed downward during most of the hearing.
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El Paso County Coroner’s Office has said the shooting victims – 35-year-old Jennifer Markovsky, Ke’Arre Marcell Stewart, 29, and Garrett Swasey, 44 – each died from a gunshot wound. Dear faces first-degree murder charges, although District Attorney Dan May said additional charges may be forthcoming.
The judge said the lawyer could visit the scene when police finished their investigation. Wounded, he ran back in to warn others to take cover, his brother told NBC News.
The alleged gunman’s murderous rampage at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic wasn’t the first time he targeted the organization, his ex-wife said. Prosecutors are expected to formally charge Dear on December 9.
In 1992, Dear was arrested after being suspected of rape in SC, but no records showed that he was ever convicted of the crime.
Some of Dear’s acquaintances, who spoke to the Times on the condition of anonymity, said he was strictly against abortion and at times heaped praise on those who attacked abortion clinics.
“The case may fit the criteria for a federal domestic terrorism case, but based on my experience, I would be very surprised if this is not simply a local prosecution”, said Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers, a former us attorney and state attorney general.
Teague said clinics have reported six acts of violence since July when tapes were released showing Planned Parenthood personnel discussing aborted fetal tissue. In reality, a majority of Americans support Planned Parenthood and want to see the government continue to fund the group. “It’s not enough to denounce the tragedy without also denouncing the poisonous rhetoric that fueled it. Instead, some politicians are continuing to stoke it, which is unconscionable-going so far as to try and pass legislation further blocking access to health care days after this tragedy took place”.
On Sunday morning, Planned Parenthood tweeted, “We now know the man responsible for the tragic shooting at PP’s health center in CO was motivated by opposition to safe and legal abortion”.
In court documents released Tuesday, Deputy State Public Defender Rosalie Roy says the shooting has already generated negative publicity.
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He was arrested in North Charleston on a charge of criminal sexual conduct after a woman said he put a knife to her neck, forced her into her apartment and sexually assaulted her after hitting her in the mouth.
