Planned Parenthood shooter Robert Lewis Dear has revealed more about his motives for shooting up the abortion clinic and the revolve around his concerns about the federal government, not abortion.
As soon as details came to light about the mental health status of alleged Planned Parenthood shooter Robert Lewis Dear, pro-life advocates defending themselves against false accusations that Dear somehow was a pro-life activist motivated by videos Planned Parenthood selling aborted baby parts knew that the truth was far different. They understood that Dear is no more than a mentally troubled human being with a long criminal record who friends and family described as an incoherent rambler.
Last month, Dear made outbursts in court that he wants to fire his public defender and represent himself.
“I do not want them as my lawyers. I invoke my constitutional right to defend myself,” Dear said Wednesday.
As Judge Gilbert Martinez attempted to settle the defendant down, Dear shot back, “How can I trust my attorney when he says I’m incompetent in the newspaper?”
Now, Dear has admitted his real target was the FBI and the federal government, whom he believed was targeting him. Dear called a local Denver television station to reveal the real motive behind his shooting up the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic — and it had more to do with anti-government sentiment than opposing abortion.
The accused Planned Parenthood shooter told a Denver television station Wednesday he impulsively attacked the Colorado Springs clinic nearly two months ago, because he believed federal agents were following him and “they wanted to start a war.”
“I felt like they were going to get me and so I am going to pick where I want to make my last stand,” Robert Lewis Dear Jr. told Denver-based CBS4.
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During Wednesday’s call, Dear said he had been badgered by FBI agents for 22 years after grumbling on the radio about the agency’s role in the Waco, Texas siege that left more than 80 people dead. He claimed agents went so far as to go inside his Hartsel trailer and cut his clothing, CBS4 reported.
Dear added that FBI agents followed him from Hartsel to the Colorado Springs clinic, and that the agents even warned people inside the Planned Parenthood clinic that he was coming.
“Well, when I got there of course, those guys knew I was armed, knew everything about me,” Dear told CBS4. “They slither off like snakes and they get the local cops to do their dirty work so that’s why the shootout was there,” said Dear.
He said he did not plan for the spur-of-the-moment attack, and he expected to die at the clinic.
Dear’s mental competency is still in question and the evaluation of it will determine his fate.
The case has since stalled while a psychologist evaluates Dear’s mental fitness.
Martinez ordered the evaluation at a Dec. 23 court hearing after Dear said he wanted to fire his public defenders and represent himself.
If the psychologist deems Dear mentally incompetent, the prosecution would be delayed indefinitely and Dear would be treated at a Pueblo hospital until a judge rules him competent to stand trial.
On Wednesday, Dear told the television station he plans to plead guilty and possibly face the death penalty, because “I’m just an honest man and I believe I’m guilty.”
Dear, 57-years-old and residing in the mountains of Colorado, was arrested at the scene in connection with the violent shooting that claimed the lives of three people, including one police officer and injured 9 others, including multiple officers. Dear reportedly mentioned “baby body parts” when arrested at the scene of the crime, but he has no connections with the pro-life movement and has a long criminal record and is described by those who know him best as someone with clear mental health issues.
Dear appears to have no association with the pro-life movement and those who know him say he is an awkward man who never discussed religion or abortion. The profile they paint is far from a caricature of a pro-life activist who has an issue with the Planned Parenthood abortion business and more of a loner or renegade who may have mental health issue and, at a minimum, is a bit “off.”
Since the shooting, a massive debate has ensued over any bearing it may have on the abortion debate.
Less than 24 hours after the shooting, the CEO of the abortion company, Cecile Richards, issued a fundraising email essentially blaming pro-life people for the shooting, saying the “feed domestic terrorism.”
Planned Parenthood officials have confirmed none of the people killed in the shooting or 9 victims who were injured were Planned Parenthood abortion clinic staff or patients and authorities have released no motive for the shooter as to whether or not he actually targeted Planned Parenthood. And, according to the Associated Press, all of the shooting took place outside of the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic, not in it.
As LifeNews reported, the police officer killed during Friday’s shooting at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood is pro-life and a co-pastor at his local church. Garrett Swasey, 44, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs police officer who was shot and killed while responding to the shooting and was described by his fellow church members and friends as a courageous man and loving father who drew strength and inspiration from his Christian faith.
Family members and friends identified the other two victims as 29-year-old Ke’Arre Stewart and Jennifer Markovsky, 35. Both accompanied friends to the Planned Parenthood on Friday.
Multiple pro-life groups quickly condemned the shooting while pro-abortion presidential candidate Hillary Clinton sent a tweet exploiting the active shooting before the shooter was apprehended or a motive known to push for support for the abortion business and then went on to say pro-life people should “defend Planned Parenthood, not attack it.” And President Obama exploiting the shooting to demand pro-life people stop “demonizing” Planned Parenthood.
Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains issued a statement responding to the shooting, saying it doesn’t know if Planned Parenthood was the target of the attack.
“We don’t yet know the full circumstances and motives behind this criminal action, and we don’t yet know if Planned Parenthood was in fact the target of this attack,” Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains President Vicki Cowart said in a statement.
Cowart was accused of pushing abortion at the memorial for the shooting victims and one woman walked out after she politicized the event.
