CNN — District Attorney Dan May said 179 felony charges have been filed against Robert Lewis Dear in the killing of three people, including a police officer, at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Robert Lewis Dear, who is accused of killing three people at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic, interrupted a Wednesday court hearing with at least 17 outbursts.
Dear said, “I am guilty. There is no trial. I am a warrior for the babies.” In a separate outburst, Dear said, “Protect the babies.”
The court was in recess on Wednesday afternoon.
[Previous story, posted at 7:35 a.m. ET]
The man accused of killing three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs will be formally charged Wednesday for the attack.
Prosecutors intend to charge Robert Lewis Dear, 57, with first-degree murder, which could carry a minimum penalty of life in prison or a maximum penalty of death if he’s convicted. He will also face other charges.
Dear is accused of killing a police officer and two civilians in a shooting rampage on November 27. The closely watched case has already united even staunch opponents in the abortion debate.
Dear mentioned “baby parts” after the shooting and expressed anti-abortion and anti-government views, a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation said.
Investigators have not publicly disclosed a motive, but the mayor of Colorado Springs, John Suthers, said it can be inferred by the location of the attack.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch called it a “crime against women receiving health care services.” Vicki Cowart, president of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, was clear that she believes the shooter “was motivated by opposition to safe and legal abortion.”
“I think there’s a lot of belief that this qualifies as a form of domestic terrorism,” Dawn Laguens, Planned Parenthood’s chief experience officer, said.
Huckabee echoed that sentiment.
“What he did is domestic terrorism, and what he did is absolutely abominable — especially to us in the pro-life movement, because there’s nothing about any of us that would condone or in any way look the other way on something like this,” Huckabee said.
