healthmedicinet

Daily News and Tips

Colorado shooting suspect said ‘no more baby parts': reports

By Keith Coffman

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) – The man accused of opening fire at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado and killing three people said “no more baby parts” while he was being arrested, NBC News and other media reported on Saturday, citing unnamed law enforcement sources.

The utterance would appear to be a reference to the controversy surrounding the organization’s health services, which include abortion, and its role in delivering fetal tissue to medical researchers.

It could hint at a possible motive for the rampage, though NBC reported that sources said investigators still did not know for certain what motivated the gunman.

Authorities have not discussed a motive for the attack at the Colorado Springs clinic, which left a police officer and two civilians dead and nine people wounded.

The suspect, identified as Robert Lewis Dear, 57, was taken into custody at the Planned Parenthood clinic and jailed ahead of a court appearance scheduled for Monday.

It was not immediately clear if Dear, who surrendered to police after a nearly five-hour standoff, had retained an attorney.

The shooting was believed to be the first fatal attack at an abortion provider in the United States in six years, although it was not known if it was related to the clinic’s abortion services. The Colorado Springs center has been repeatedly targeted for protests by anti-abortion activists.

Planned Parenthood came under fire this year after officials of the organization were secretly recorded by an anti-abortion group discussing how to obtain human tissue from aborted fetuses.

The videos triggered protests over Planned Parenthood’s role in such activities. The organization has strongly denied doing anything illegal or unethical.

(Additional reporting by Fiona Ortiz in Chicago, Daniel Wallis in Denver, Frank McGurty in New York, Roberta Rampton in Washington and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Writing by Fiona Ortiz and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Frances Kerry, Toni Reinhold)