BREAKING (11/27/2015): Active Shooter At Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood

[Ryan Ruck]

Being reported as an individual, white, male, 40s, dressed in a trench coat, and armed with AK type rifle.

Currently holed up in the Planned Parenthood office. Officer currently speaking saying the individual brought several "items"/"devices" with him that are being investigated.

[Ryan Ruck]

Sorry, been too busy to update the thread with new news.

Last I heard, shooter had been taken into custody alive.

[Ryan Ruck]

Again, apologies for not keeping this thread really up to date especially during the events.

Friday evening though I was busy prepping some food and starting a couple turkeys brining prior to deep frying on Saturday when the family celebrated Thanksgiving since my middle brother had to work thursday. Then spent most of today watching the Bengals get back in the saddle.

[Ryan Ruck]

Another mentally ill person liberal policies likely kept from being properly institutionalized...

Divorced Recluse Who 'Killed Three' In Assault On Planned Parenthood Clinic Was An Oddball Loner Who NEVER Expressed Political Views To Neighbors After Moving To Remote Colorado Cabin

November 28, 2015

The man accused of the Planned Parenthood massacre spent the last year living in an isolated shack and rarely spoke to anyone, it has been revealed.

Robert Dear, 57, moved from North Carolina to Colorado and set up home in an area where people 'like to be by themselves'.

But he never gave any hint of any political views when he ate his meals at the only cafe in the isolated town of Hartsel, eight miles from his remote cabin.

Dear is due to be arraigned on Monday over the deaths of three people at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs.


Police have identified the gunman suspected of killing three people and injuring nine at a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic. Above, a mugshot of Robert Dear


Dear lived in a cabin (pictured) eight miles away from the small town of Hartsel, where he quietly ate his meals at a cafe


A cabin in the woods of North Carolina where Dear lived has no running water and no electricity before moving to Colorado a year before the attacks


Colorado Springs police captured Dear after a five-hour stand-off in which he allegedly killed three people


The gunman was barricaded inside the family planning clinic and exchanged fire with police during a standoff that lasted for hours

The 6ft 4ins divorcee is accused of murdering six-year police veteran Garrett Swasey, a 44-year-old part-time pastor, and two civilians who have yet to be named.

The murders prompted President Obama to once again push for more gun control. Dear was reported to have had an assault rifle, possibly an AK-47.

It remains unclear if the Planned Parenthood murders were linked to undercover videos showing its staff discussing the sale of aborted fetuses' body parts.

The organization today claimed the videos had fueled 'domestic terrorism'.

Dear had lived in in a ramshackle cabin in North Carolina without electricity or running water.

He arrived in Colorado a year ago, locals told Daily Mail Online, and lived a similar life.

'He was very quiet,' said Jamie Heffelman, who works at the town's only cafe, the Highline Cafe and Saloon, where Dear was a regular.

'He never interacted with anyone. He would just come in here, eat and drink, and never caused any problems.

'He would just order his food and kept himself to himself. He was very pleasant.

She added: 'He never spoke about politics or anything like that.

'A lot of people come here to be left alone - you can live for years around here and no one will notice.'

Another local, Charlie Buher, added: 'Nobody really knew him. The kind of guys who live up here, they like to be by themselves.'

Public records from South Carolina show that Dear was charged with cruelty to animals for an incident where he shot a dog and was charged with being a peeping Tom, eavesdropping or peeping in 2002 for an incident after 'making unwanted advancements' towards a woman and being seen in the bushes by her house.

He was found not guilty of the first charge and the second was dismissed, though a retraining order was issued in the case.

In 1997 his wife also called police for a domestic violence incident where she says he locked her out of their house and pushed her out a window when she entered.

She did not press charges.

He was listed as unaffiliated on a voter registration for Colorado in 2014.

Dear also had a home in Hartsel, Colorado, about one hour and 20 minutes drive from the Planned Parenthood in Colorado Springs, the nearest major city.

The city's mayor John Suthers said that people could make 'inferences from where it took place' about a possible motive behind the shooting.

Five police officers and four civilians were among those injured in the attack.

Suthers said authorities were able to monitor Dear's movements in real time using security cameras inside the facility.

He said that watching the situation was 'incredibly dramatic' and that for the last hour Dear was stationary in one spot of the clinic.

Those inside the clinic hid in different rooms as they fled from the gunmen, and police rammed the building with a truck, enabling some inside to escape.

Some of those who survived the shooting have begun to tell their stories

One man whose windshield was shattered by gunfire said he was able to drive away after he saw the assailant's 'cold stone face'.

Ozy Licano, 61, who lives 85 miles southeast of Colorado Springs, had dropped friends off at the clinic, and he tried to run when he saw the shooter.

'He just started shooting up the entryway... I saw him shoot up and down,' Licano told CNN.

'I kinda lost it there... I tried to get out of my car and run.'

He said that he caught Dear's eyes for five seconds after he got back in his car and tried to drive away.

'He was looking directly at my face; he was aiming at my head. I could see it in his eyes... cold stone face.'

Bullets destroyed Licano's windshield, though he was not directly hit but was treated for wounds from the shattered glass.

Dear, who was described as wearing a trench coat and hunting cap while carrying a long gun, was arrested after hours of a standoff and shootout with police.

His surrender and apprehension came five hours after the first 911 calls shortly before noon.

Officials also confirmed that at least five officers were shot in the standoff that followed.

One of the officers was reportedly hit in the hand. The extent of the injuries sustained by the others is unknown.

Suthers said that authorities had been preparing for a 'possible intrusion' before contact was made with Dear and he surrendered.

The mayor said Friday evening: 'We mourn the loss of two civilian victims, we mourn the loss of a very brave police officer.' He added that there was 'no continuing peril to the citizens of Colorado Springs'.

Swasey was a six-year veteran of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs police force and a married father-of-two.

Suthers said that there was a 'huge crime scene' and that it would take time to identify all the victims.

Vicki Cowart, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, said: 'We're still reaching out to confirm individuals, how they are. I believe no one of our staff was severely injured. I also believe at this time that none of our patients were injured.'

President Barack Obama was briefed about the situation as it was happening and released a statement on Saturday.

'The last thing Americans should have to do, over the holidays or any day, is comfort the families of people killed by gun violence - people who woke up in the morning and bid their loved ones goodbye with no idea it would be for the last time,' the statement said.

'And yet, two days after Thanksgiving, that’s what we are forced to do again.'

He said 'we can’t let it become normal' and added that 'we have to do something about the easy accessibility of weapons of war on our streets to people who have no business wielding them'.

Obama's statement said that authorities do not know the motive for the shooting, but 'we know that more Americans and their families had fear forced upon them'.


The officer who was shot was identified as 44-year-old Garrett Swasey (pictured), a six-year veteran of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Police


Swasey is a father-of-two and was very active in his church, serving as a co-pastor. His wife Rachel is a nurse

Terrified customers of nearby businesses were told to shelter in place during the hours-long standoff.

Miranda Schilter, 17, was getting coffee at a grocery store when a bloodied man stumbled in and said that there was an active shooter.

'He lifted his shirt up and he had holes in his chest,' she told the New York Times.

The man was treated by a nurse at the store, before being allowed out to go to the hospital as more than 100 were kept inside until as late as 9pm.

Others trapped in stores such as a chiropractor's office were taken away by bus as authorities kept residents' cars on the parking lot to check for bombs after Dear had been taken into custody.

Police announced the next morning that the cars could be picked up by their owners.

The officer who was shot dead traveled to the scene in response to a report that an officer was under fire and in need of support.

Swasey and his wife Rachel have a young son Elijah, 10, and daughter Faith, six.

'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 with officer Swasey at Hope Chapel who knew the man for 15 years - told The New York Times.

'He did it because it was the thing that he felt he needed to do.'

Another co-pastor, Kurt Aichele, said: 'It's not the first time that he's been placed in harm's way. He's an absolute man of courage.'

Beyond his ministry and police work, Swasey had also been an accomplished ice skater, which prompted the Massachusetts native's move to Colorado.

He won a national championship as a junior, and competed in the adult US Championships in 1991, 1993 and 1995, according to the Boston Globe.

'The Planned Parenthood family grieves for officer Garrett Swasey's family, friends and colleagues dealing with heartbreaking loss tonight,' said Planned Parenthood's Cecile Richards on Twitter on Friday evening.

The organization said that none of the civilians dead or injured worked at the clinic.

The non-profit organization's Colorado Springs clinic had previously been the site of repeated anti-abortion demonstrations, including one earlier this year.

In recent years it moved to its current location, which has been derided as a 'fortress' by abortion foes.

Hundreds of protesters picketed in front of the clinic in August as part of a push by abortion opponents to cut off public funding for Planned Parenthood, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.

One man was charged with trespassing in 2012 after flouting as many as 30 warnings to keep off clinic property, the paper said.

Details concerning threats made to the clinic via phone calls, social media and email have been handed to law enforcement to investigate.

Speculation over a motive for the attack has also led pro-choice activists saying a series of videos attempting to discredit Planned Parenthood could have ignited the deadly shooting.

The Planned Parenthood facility provides abortions, screening for sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy testing and other services, according to its website. It has 700 health centers throughout the US.

Footage which was released by the Center for Medical Progress in the summer show what appears to be Planned Parenthood employees in Denver facility discussing selling fetal tissue.

National Abortion Federation president Vicki Saporta said that since the videos were made public there has been increased threats against the clinics.

She told the New York Daily News: 'There has been a direct correlation in the release of these videos and these threats.

'We were hoping to prevent it,' Saporta said. 'They have been targeted by these anti-abortion extremists and unfortunately, it's not surprising. The hate that these video have ignited have resulted in someone trying to take the law into their own hands.'

The National Abortion Federation added on its Facebook page on Friday: 'Violence like this is tragic but unfortunately not totally surprising.

'Since the highly edited, misleading videos were released in July, we have seen an unprecedented increase in hate speech and threats against abortion providers.

'We have been quite worried that this increase in threats would lead to a violent attack like we saw today. We are continuing to work with Planned Parenthood and law enforcement in response to this incident.'

Arsonists have already targeted four clinics nationwide and no arrests for those attacks have been made.

'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,' Cowart, president of Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains, said in a statement.

'We share the concerns of many Americans that extremists are creating a poisonous environment that feeds domestic terrorism in this country.

'We will never back away from providing care in a safe, supportive environment that millions of people rely on and trust.'

The New York City Police Department said that security at Planned Parenthood offices in the city were being increased as a precaution.

The gunman also took other objects with him inside the Planned Parenthood though it is unknown at this time what they may have been.

There were fears they could be explosives - and while there were reports he may have had propane tanks on him, these have not been confirmed.

Police said Saturday morning that the unidentified items had been secured and were no longer a threat.

Two vigils for the victims of the shooting will be held Saturday morning and in the evening.

The Planned Parenthood attack was the second shooting spree in Colorado Springs in less than a month.

On October 31 a gunman died in a shootout with police after killing a bicyclist and two women in the city's downtown.

Miranda Schilter, 17, who was trapped in the grocery store near the clinic, also witnessed that incident.

[Ryan Ruck]

Man, I do love how Ted will not let the media shape the narrative but instead turns their own game on them.

Ted Cruz Calls Alleged Planned Parenthood Shooter 'Transgendered Leftist Activist'

Cruz took issue with the “vicious rhetoric on the left blaming those who are pro-life.”

November 29, 2015

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) downplayed the role anti-abortion rhetoric may have played in the fatal shooting of three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado and suggested the suspect was a “transgendered leftist activist" at a campaign stop in Iowa on Sunday.

Speaking with reporters following the event, Cruz rejected suggestions that the shooter was part of the anti-abortion movement, taking issue with the “vicious rhetoric on the left blaming those who are pro-life.”

Robert Lewis Dear, 57, was taken into custody Friday night after allegedly opening fire inside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, killing three and injuring nine others.

When a reporter reminded the Texas senator that the suspect allegedly made a comment about “baby parts” while being arrested, Cruz countered, “It’s also been reported that he was registered as an independent and a woman and transgendered leftist activist, if that’s what he is.”

Dear’s voter registration, where he is listed as a woman, was uncovered by the Gateway Pundit, a self-described "right-of-center news website."

“We know that he was a man who was registered to vote as a woman,” Cruz said. “The media promptly wants to blame him on the pro-life moment when at this point there is very little evidence to suggest that.”

Asked if the shooting was an act of domestic terrorism, Cruz declined to draw conclusions.

“I would call it a murder,” he said. “It was a multiple murder of what appears to be a deranged individual. And it was horrific, it was evil and we will find out more about the facts, but I don’t think we should jump to conclusions.”

Cruz became the first GOP candidate to denounce the shooting during a campaign event in Lamoni, Iowa, Saturday.

“We don’t know what those motives were, but whatever they were, it’s unacceptable, and it’s horrific and wrong,” Cruz told reporters before a town hall event.

Cruz has been a harsh critic of Planned Parenthood and has even referred to the organization as an "ongoing criminal enterprise," vowing to launch a federal investigation if he is elected president.

[American Patriot]

I have to clarify something here. This was NOT an attack on the Planned Parenthood facility. It began in a BANK parking lot (Chase Bank).

It MOVED to the PP facility. The shootings had NOTHING to do with PP.

Furthermore, they have DROPPED this completely from the news. They are avoiding telling the truth about it.