Robert Dear: Colorado clinic shooter hoped foetuses would thank him for stopping abortions

Robert Dear has been charged with three counts of murder

Robert Dear has been charged with three counts of murder (AP)

The man charged with shooting dead three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic told police he hoped that when he died, foetuses in heaven would thank him for stopping more abortions. He also idolised a man from Florida who was executed in 2003 for shooting dead an abortion provider.

Documents unsealed by a court in Colorado have provided a window into the thinking of Robert Dear, 57, who is has been charged with attacking the clinic in Colorado Springs last November. In addition to the three people who were shot dead, nine others were injured.The three people who were fatally wounded were Jennifer Markovsky, a young mother, Ke’Arre Stewart, 29, a US Army veteran, and Garrett Swasey, a police officer from a nearby university who responded to the attack.

Law enforcement officials had opposed the release of the documents

Reuters said that the new details emerged after El Paso County District Court Judge Gilbert Martinez agreed to unseal arrest and search warrant affidavits in the case. Law enforcement officials had opposed their release.

They show that Dear told told police he was upset with Planned Parenthood for performing abortions and “the selling of body parts,” according to the documents.

Planned Parenthood came under scrutiny in July after anti-abortion groups released secretly recorded videos and claimed the organisation was illegally selling foetal tissue. Planned Parenthood has denied those accusations, and several investigations have found no misconduct by the organisation.

Colorado Springs shooting suspect Robert Lewis Dear (AP)

Dear also said he admired Paul Hill, an anti-abortion extremist who was executed in Florida in 2003 for the murder of an abortion provider in 1994.

The documents reveal that Dear had packed his truck with weapons and propane canisters that he planned to use. Yet he had to ask directions several times and eventually found his way there after calling the clinic directly.

A wounded victim told police that Dear approached her in the clinic parking lot and opened fire after saying that she “shouldn’t have come here today,“ the documents said.

The documents were unsealed on the orders of El Paso County District Court Judge Gilbert Martinez

Dear ambushed several responding police officers, and was wearing a homemade ballistic vest comprised of silver coins and duct tape, police said.

In outbursts at earlier hearings and in media interviews, Dear called himself “a warrior for the babies,” claiming he was guilty and that there would be no trial. He also said he wanted to fire his court-appointed lawyers and defend himself.

Martinez ordered the South Carolina-born suspect to undergo a competency examination at the state mental hospital to determine if he was fit to act as his own lawyer. The evaluation deemed him incompetent, his lawyers said in court filings.

In an interview with the Colorado Springs Gazette newspaper last month, Dear indicated that he may have changed his mind and might not fire his lawyers.

“Yeah, I want to be my own attorney,” Dear told the newspaper. “But if my attorney will start following my rules and doing what I want, then maybe I’ll work a deal with him.”

Mr Martinez will rule whether Dear is competent sometime after an April 28 hearing on the issue.