Planned Parenthood shootings increasingly seem politically motivated

COLORADO SPRINGS — As authorities continue to search for the motive behind the deadly shootings Friday at a Planned Parenthood branch, signs increasingly indicate it was a political act.

Colorado Springs police on Saturday would not speculate about a motive for the shootings, but a law enforcement official said the suspect in the rampage made a comment about “no more baby parts” after his arrest.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the case, would not elaborate about the comment.

Planned Parenthood said in a statement Saturday that witnesses said the gunman was motivated by his opposition to abortion.

Court records in the case, which officials say shed light on the basis of the attacks, have been sealed, and a police spokeswoman said she could not talk about the information in them.

“There are a lot of moving parts with the crime scene and literally dozens and dozens and dozens of victims and witnesses,” Police Chief Pete Carey said.

As investigators spent Saturday combing through the massive crime scene surrounding the bullet-pocked clinic, Colorado Springs began its long process of mourning.

One by one, the hundreds of people who were trapped for hours during Friday’s shootings solemnly made their way back to the vehicles they were forced to leave behind.

Frank Watson, a 71-year-old Air Force retiree, brushed a few inches of snow off his Jeep in the King Soopers parking lot.

The day before, a trip to buy milk became an eight-hour ordeal.

“It was just supposed to be a short, quick stop,” he said.

The clinic, which for five hours Friday became a grisly scene of gunfire and bullet wounds, remained surrounded by police vehicles and cordoned off in a maze of yellow crime-scene tape.

“Down the road, there’s just going to be some intolerable sadness,” Gov. John Hickenlooper said at an afternoon news conference.

“This is the kind of thing that hits the entire community in the gut.”

Hickenlooper ordered all flags immediately lowered to half-staff in honor of the victims. “I want to speak on behalf of all the people of Colorado that we are united behind Colorado Springs and El Paso County,” he added.

Police released few new details Saturday in the rampage, which left police Officer Garrett Swasey and two unidentified civilians dead.

Authorities said they will not announce the identities of the civilians until Monday, when autopsies are complete.

Vicki Cowart, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, said at a vigil for victims that 15 staff members at the organization’s Colorado Springs branch at the time of the shootings are OK.

“(They) did what they needed to do to protect everyone in that building,” Cowart said.

Police said Saturday while they had worked with the Planned Parenthood branch in the past to develop tight security — which included surveillance cameras and a guard — they knew of no threats to the clinic before the attack.

The security guard, however, had left for the day before the attacks began, about 11:40 a.m.

An expansive criminal investigation into the suspected shooter, 57-year-old Robert Dear, is underway, Colorado Springs police say.

The region’s top federal prosecutor said his office is investigating independently and will support local authorities.

At least five people shot in the attack, including two law enforcement officers, were released from medical care. Three other officers remained hospitalized Saturday at Penrose Hospital, but authorities say they are expected to survive. On Saturday police announced that three additional officers also were injured Friday but were not shot. All are in good condition.

Mayor John Suthers visited the three still being treated, calling each one a hero who undoubtedly saved lives.

“They’re in very good spirits,” Suthers said. “A couple of them are very lucky in terms of where the bullets hit.”

Carey said he is “absolutely blessed that more (officers) weren’t killed.”

Businesses in the shopping center surrounding the Planned Parenthood clinic reopened Saturday. First the grocery store. Then a liquor store. Then a nail salon.

But a heavy pall hung over the area.

Just before 4 p.m. a dump truck and another heavy piece of machinery rolled into the scene where officers were searching for evidence.

In the Planned Parenthood parking lot, investigators started to circle around several abandoned, snow-covered police cars.

One of the cruisers appeared lopsided. The other’s back window had been shot out.

Jun Kizu, who owns Jun Japanese Restaurant across from the clinic, said he had to open Saturday night because his employees rely on their work at the sushi eatery for a living.

“Life has to go on,” Kizu said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.