The man accused of shooting three people to death inside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs on Friday faced a judge Monday afternoon.
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He was flanked by Daniel King, an attorney with with the Colorado State Public Defender’s office who recently defended James Holmes, the gunman in the 2012 Aurora theater shooting.
Appearing harried, he wore a padded white vest and looked down during the hearing, in which victims’ families were present, and did not ask any questions. He gazed downward during most of the proceedings.
Relatives of those killed or wounded in last Friday’s shooting at the Planned Parenthood clinic watched the proceedings in the courtroom.
Fifty-seven-year-old Robert Lewis Dear is being held on suspicion of murder but prosecutor Dan May said Monday that other charges are still possible.
Planned Parenthood cited witnesses as saying the gunman was motivated by his opposition to abortion.
Investigators said Dear told them he knew the woman and had consensual sex with her. But Dear also has been described by acquaintances as a loner who once gave neighbors anti-Obama literature but never any indication he would target a clinic.
She said: “For him to plan this and go there, he meant to go there”. A law enforcement official has said he rambled about “no more baby parts” after his arrest.
Colorado Springs police on Sunday said they would not disclose any information on the motive for the attack.
The judge told Dear that no bond has been set and that Dear’s next court appearance will be December 9 for the formal filing of charges. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not allowed to publicly discuss the ongoing investigation. “It’s become quite a partisan issue”, said William Yeomans, an American University law fellow and former high-ranking official in the Justice Department’s civil rights division.
Planned Parenthood was already on heightened alert against threats of violence nationwide.
Michaux told NBC News in an interview that he had targeted another Planned Parenthood clinic more than 20 years ago, putting glue in the locks.
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Huckabee, speaking about the alleged shooter Robert Dear on his Huckabee Exclusive podcast, said at the time of his recording, no motive for the shooting was known, but added that a lack of known motive didn’t stop the left from placing blame and jumping to conclusions. The videos claim to show evidence of Planned Parenthood employees selling aborted fetus parts.
