DENVER — Robert Dear, the self-proclaimed “warrior for the babies” who was charged with killing three people and wounding nine others in a 2015 shooting spree at a Colorado abortion clinic, has died in a prison medical center.
Dear, 67, who the courts had repeatedly deemed mentally unfit to stand trial, died on Saturday (Nov 22) at the US Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, according to information posted on Tuesday by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He had remained in custody since his arrest immediately after the rampage on Nov 27, 2015.
The inmate-locator record gave no details on the circumstances of Dear’s death. Bureau of Prisons’ officials did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for information.
The Denver Post quoted bureau spokesperson Randilee Giamusso as saying Dear’s death was “preliminarily linked to natural causes” and that prison officials followed what the newspaper characterised as “advanced medical orders” before he died.
State and federal prosecutors had sought for a decade to convict him for the attack on the Planned Parenthood clinic, which provided a range of reproductive health services, including abortions.
Authorities said he opened fire with a rifle outside the facility before charging inside, and surrendered following a five-hour siege.
Dear admitted to the mass shooting in several state court hearings, including when he proclaimed himself “a warrior for the babies”, a reference to his anti-abortion beliefs. Federal prosecutors said Dear travelled to the clinic with a dozen firearms, propane tanks and more than 500 rounds of ammunition.
After evaluating Dear in 2016, two state court-appointed psychologists diagnosed him with a paranoid delusional disorder that they said rendered him mentally unfit for trial. The state court judge then ruled him incompetent, finding that while Dear could understand the factual basis of the case, he was unable to meaningfully assist in his own defence.
In 2019, Dear was indicted in federal court, which prosecutors hoped might advance the case. But in September 2021, a US district judge again declared the defendant mentally incompetent.
Authorities tried to restore Dear’s mental fitness while he remained in custody. As recently as June 2024, a federal appeals court ruled he could be given anti-psychotic medication against his will in hopes of establishing competency for trial.
At the time, government experts estimated the medication had a more than 70 per cent chance of success. Defence experts said the drugs were unlikely to work, citing Dear’s age and long duration of untreated psychosis.
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Gunman deemed unfit for trial in Colorado abortion clinic shooting dies in prison
