Shooting in Colorado Planned Parenthood

Officer Garrett Swasey, who died in Colo. Planned Parenthood shooting, was a co-pastor, skating champion

The police officer who was killed during Friday’s shooting standoff at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs has been identified as Garrett Swasey, 44, a co-pastor at his church and an ice-skating champion.

Swasey, who was married and had two young children, had been with the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs police department for six years and responded to the initial reports of an active shooter.

Authorities said a suspect was taken into police custody after the hours-long shooting standoff at the clinic where Swasey and two civilians were killed. Police were trying to determine the suspect’s motive after his capture. At least four other police officers and five civilians were injured.

In a statement released by the White House on Saturday, President Obama praised the slain officer: “May God bless Officer Garrett Swasey and the Americans he tried to save — and may He grant the rest of us the courage to do the same thing.”

Swasey was part of the leadership at his non-denominational, evangelical church that is overseen by a group of elders or co-pastors, as opposed to one specific pastor. Swasey was part of what the church calls the “teaching team” and played guitar on the worship team, his bio states.

Swasey and his wife, Rachel, began attending Hope Chapel in Colorado Springs in 2001, according to a brief bio of him on the church’s Web site.

“As they raise their son, Elijah and daughter, Faith, they view the members of the church as their family,” the bio states. “Both have been granted a servant’s heart by God, and are a demonstrative evidence of God’s grace to Hope Chapel.”

“Here’s a guy who worked full time as a police officer, and then gave a great amount of time to his local church and didn’t get a dime for it,” Scott Dontanville, a co-pastor who knew Swasey for 15 years, told the New York Times.

Dontanville told the Times that Swasey would “disagree with the abortion industry,” but “I don’t think that was on his mind.”

“He was there to save lives,” he said. “That’s the kind of guy he is.”

Swasey and his ice-skating partner Christine Fowler won the junior national ice-skating championship in 1992, according to the Denver Post. He and partner Hillary Tompkins finished 13th in the 1995 U.S. Figure Skating Championships and performed in ice shows in Maine.

Kurt Aichele, another co-pastor at Swasey’s church, told the Times that Swasey moved to Colorado Springs years ago to train for ice skating. He said that Swasey’s wife broke the news of his death to their 10-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter.

A vigil will be held Saturday at UCCS, according to a Facebook memorial page. A crowdfunding memorial page has been set up.

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Reba said:

One of the victims:



Pictures:

Officer Garrett Swasey

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Reba said:

One of the victims:



Pictures:

Officer Garrett Swasey

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Jiro said:

and this country is under attack by some christian lunatic.... not syrian refugees or ISIS or islamic fundamentalists....

I don't know why American people are much more afraid of foreign terrorists aka baba yaga than domestic terrorists... typically comprise of christian fundamentalists and anti-government paramilitary.

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Jiro said:

and this country is under attack by some christian lunatic.... not syrian refugees or ISIS or islamic fundamentalists....

I don't know why American people are much more afraid of foreign terrorists aka baba yaga than domestic terrorists... typically comprise of christian fundamentalists and anti-government paramilitary.

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Reba said:

I've been searching and I can't find any official statements about the shooter. Can you please give me the link that states he is a Christian fundamentalist anti-government paramilitary? I would like to know more about his affiliations.

The lunatic part I accept by just looking at his facial expression--crazed eyes!

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Foxrac said:

Most attack on abortion clinics, if not all are motivated by extremist Christian.

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Planned Parenthood gunman’s ex-wife: ‘We’re living it just as everyone else is’

The man accused of opening fire inside a Colorado Planned Parenthood had a troubled history with his ex-wife and former neighbors in the Lowcountry.

Robert Lewis Dear’s ex-wife in Goose Creek, Pamela Ross, hasn’t seen Dear in years following a divorce around 2000.

“I know everyone has a lot of questions,” Ross told The Post and Courier. “We all do. ... We’re living it just as everyone else is.”

She declined to comment further about the situation.

The Colorado Springs Police Department identified Dear, 57, as the suspected gunman in the shooting that killed three and wounded nine others. Dear has ties to South Carolina going back several years.

Dear has a history of arrests in South Carolina including domestic violence, peeping tom, animal cruelty and other charges out of Colleton and Beaufort counties, records show.

A background search completed by The Post and Courier found that Dear was arrested in 2003 on a cruelty to animals charge but was found not guilty in 2004. He was charged with peeping tom in 2002 but that charge was later dismissed, according to a background search.

In 1997, Dear’s wife contacted Colleton County sheriff’s deputies and reported that her husband assaulted her, according to incident reports released Saturday by the Sheriff’s Office. The woman told deputies that Dear took her keys from her and locked her out of their home, a report stated.

She tried to enter through a window, according to the report, but Dear pushed her out, causing bruises to her body. The woman chose not to file charges against Dear at that time, the report stated.

Beaufort County sheriff’s deputies charged Dear with operating an uninsured motor vehicle in 2004 and he was later convicted, State Law Enforcement Division records show.

Dear reported living in North Carolina in 2007, according to a report released by Colleton County sheriff’s deputies. He shared the detail with investigators while complaining of a pickup truck that was reportedly stolen off of the Walterboro-area property he rented at times to tenants on Winding Creek Road, an incident report states.

Another report released by sheriff’s deputies detailed an ongoing dispute between Dear and a neighbor on Winding Creek Road. The neighbor contacted deputies in 2004 after Dear reportedly threatened to “do bodily harm” to the man, according to an incident report. The threat came after Dear accused the neighbor of knocking his motorcycle to the ground, the report stated.

That same neighbor previously contacted sheriff’s deputies in 2002 to report that his dog had been shot with a pellet gun. When questioned by investigators, Dear denied shooting the dog. He added that the dog’s owner “was lucky that it was only a pellet that hit the dog and not a bigger round,” according to an incident report.

Another neighbor reported being in fear for her safety in 2002 after noticing Dear “leering” at her from the bushes by her home. The woman told investigators that Dear watched her on a regular basis for about a year, according to an incident report. Dear was charged with being a peeping tom, though that charge was later dismissed, records show.

Police said three people, including a police officer, were killed in the Colorado attack on Friday. Dear was taken into custody after a standoff and shootout. Authorities say they haven’t determined a motive or whether the shooter had any connection to Planned Parenthood.

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Reba said:

Possibly but they haven't yet stated that the clinic was even his objective. Some questions were about the bank or a personal grudge as targets. The authorities aren't saying.

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Colorado shooter identifies as woman in voter registration

A voter registration file indicates that the shooter who allegedly killed three in Colorado Springs on Friday identifies as a woman with no party affiliation.

The file indicates that Robert Lewis Dear, Jr. of Hartsel, Colo., registered to vote in Park County on Oct. 17, 2014. Dear's party affiliation is UAF, which is used to mean unaffiliated or independent, and selected "female" for gender.

The genealogy website "Colorado Voters," which works by pulling public voter lists, has Dear's voter registration file posted online….

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Reba said:

I've been searching and I can't find any official statements about the shooter. Can you please give me the link that states he is a Christian fundamentalist anti-government paramilitary? I would like to know more about his affiliations.

The lunatic part I accept by just looking at his facial expression--crazed eyes!

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COLORADO SPRINGS — As the heavily armed police officers entered the Planned Parenthood clinic here to hunt down the gunman and rescue those trapped inside, they had an advantage that seemed like something out of the movies. Officers in the command center outside the clinic were able to tap into security cameras throughout the complex, watch the siege unfold and give precise instructions to officers inside.

“We could see where the suspect was,” the city’s mayor, John Suthers, said in an interview. Officers also knew where groups of staff members and patients had taken cover, he said, and were able to judge when it was safe to rescue them.

The advanced camera system was just one of the increasingly elaborate security measures that abortion clinics around the country have adopted. According to discussions heard on police scanners on Friday, when the attack occurred, at least one woman retreated to a protected “safe room.” The clinic also had a supply of bulletproof vests.

“Abortion clinics need to take extraordinary security measures that aren’t necessary for other health care facilities,” said Vicki Saporta, the president of the National Abortion Federation, the professional society for clinics, doctors and hospitals that perform abortions. “That can include bulletproof glass and safe rooms, as well as cameras and lighting and security protocols.”

In Colorado Springs, Ms. Saporta added, “the staff were well trained and saved a lot of life.”

The facility had a security guard on duty Friday morning, but he left after the day’s patients had arrived and his shift ended, said Vicki Cowart, the president of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.

Ms. Cowart said the gunman had never gotten past the waiting room. After the initial shots were fired, an employee hustled patients and staff members through a security door to the back of the clinic, she said.

Planned Parenthood officials declined to discuss their security measures in any detail, for fear of giving tips to would-be attackers. But they said the measures were extensive.

Since 1977, when more extreme elements in the anti-abortion movement began attacking clinics and personnel, eight doctors or staff members have been killed, according to data collected by the National Abortion Federation. There have been an additional 17 attempted murders, 42 bombings, 186 arson attacks and many thousands of violent threats or other illegal acts against abortion clinics. In New York on Saturday, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said the state would increase patrols at clinics around the state and would visit with staff members to discuss security.

Security measures at many clinics have been strengthened in the five months since anti-abortion activists began releasing covertly taped videos purporting to show that Planned Parenthood was engaged in the illegal sale of fetal parts. The claims have been disproved, but they have led to vitriolic verbal attacks and to what workers in abortion clinics, not only those run by Planned Parenthood, consider an especially ominous atmosphere.

The perceived level of threat differs according to location, but in some cases, clinic officials said, doctors have been provided with 24-hour armed guards. Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said Saturday that the organization would not “back down because of protesters or violent extremists or anyone else.”

The National Abortion Federation called for a special meeting in August of a standing Justice Department task force on violence against abortion clinics, Ms. Saporta said. For years, clinics have turned information about credible threats over to the task force, which includes the F.B.I. and other law enforcement groups.

Even as they seek to forestall or mitigate attacks, clinics and their staff members try to keep security measures as unobtrusive as possible, hoping to preserve a warm and safe atmosphere for patients who are often already facing stress.

“We’re still health care providers, and we want our patients to feel safe and welcome,” said Dr. Nancy L. Stanwood, an obstetrician-gynecologist at the Yale University medical center who also works in an abortion clinic.

“It’s a balancing act,” she said.

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Jiro said:

no. I didn't say he is a Christian fundamentalist anti-government paramilitary.

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I was explaining that the Americans have illogical and irrational fear about ISIS and syrian refugees because this country is mostly attacked by a Christian fundamentalist or anti-government paramilitary.... not foreign terrorists.

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Foxrac said:

Update: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...-main_planned-parenthood-315pm:homepage/story

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