Robert Dear, accused of launching an attack on a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood that left three dead, died in prison, officials said Tuesday. Photo courtesy Colorado Springs Police
Robert Dear, a man accused of killing three after opening fire on a Colorado Planned Parenthood office, has died in federal custody, officials announced Tuesday.
Dear was facing a long list of state and federal charges stemming from the fatal 2015 mass shooting of the clinic in the city of Colorado Springs that also left nine injured. But Dear’s prosecution was never completed after state and federal judges found him incompetent to stand trial for more than a decade.
District Attorney Michael J. Allen, whose office was overseeing the case, highlighted the memories of the victims in the shooting in a post on X, who included Police Officer Garrett Swasey, Ke’Arre M. Stewart and Jennifer Markovsky.
“All three victims, and this community, deserved the full measure of justice in this case but they are now denied that possibility,” he wrote. “Their family members and loved ones have endured this horror for far too long. The same is true for the five additional Colorado Springs Police Officers and the four civilians who were injured during this evil attack.”
Medical examiners have not released the cause of death for Dear, 67, who died on Nov. 22 in the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners Springfield in Missouri, local TV station KMGH reported.
Dear allegedly opened fire in the parking lot of the Planned Parenthood, before entering the office where he fired more shots. During the incident, he fired 198 bullets and had brought multiple rifles and handguns, according to the U.S. Justice Department. The city’s mayor said the act resembled domestic terrorism.
He was taken into custody after a five-hour standoff, and later told investigators he was motivated by his opposition to abortion and intended to wage “war” on the clinic.
Psychologists later testified in court that Dear had a delusional disorder, and he interrupted hearings with outbursts declaring himself a “warrior for the babies.”
While there was some promise that anti-psychotics could make Dear well enough to stand trial, he was never restored and lawmakers later made changes to Colorado’s competency law, reported local TV station KOAA.
