The previously sealed search warrants and affidavits, on view below, confirm unequivocally that Dear was motivated by anti-abortion fervor
For example, he's said to have fantasized about being praised by aborted fetuses for his actions.
As we've reported, the first reports about the incident, which came in just prior to noon on November 27, 2015, noted that a police officer had been shot in the hand, and other law enforcers were searching for a shooting suspect.
Over the hours that followed, loads of misinformation was blasted out on social media, including multiple claims that the shooting started somewhere other than the Planned Parenthood offices.
Meanwhile, massive evacuations took place at businesses close to the crime scene, including a King Soopers from which an estimated 150 people were taken to safety.
Dear was finally rounded up shortly before 5 p.m., with word circulating afterward that he'd made a reference to "baby parts" while being taken into custody.
These words implied that he had targeted Planned Parenthood as a result of opposition to abortion, not to mention much-disputed claims that the organization was selling off portions of aborted fetuses for medical use — an argument expressed in a statement from the clinic's director on Saturday, November 28.
In the days that followed, we learned the identities of the three people who died at Dear's hand: Garrett Swasey, a CU-Colorado Springs police officer, Ke'Arre Stewart, an Iraq War veteran, and Jennifer Markovsky, a transplant from Hawaii and mother of two who was at the clinic to offer moral support to a friend who was shot in the hand amid the mayhem.
Meanwhile, press outlets such as the New York Times portrayed Dear as a loner who lived in an RV in the small town of Hartsel, Colorado.
Dear was also revealed to have racked up a criminal record during time spent in South Carolina.
Among the beefs against him was a 1997 domestic-violence rap involving his former wife.
The new documents, which were unsealed thanks to the actions of assorted media outlets, including the Denver Post, add plenty of new details, including information about how Dear outfitted himself for the assault. For instance, he wore a homemade ballistic vest that used duct tape and coins.
He's also said to have told a woman in the parking lot — presumably Markovsky — that she "shouldn't have come" to the clinic before shooting her multiple times.
He then entered the facility and launched his assault in earnest with the assistance of four rifles. He had additional firearms in his truck.
After his arrest, Dear made it clear to investigators that his goal was to prevent abortions from taking place at the clinic — something that was only temporarily true, since it ultimately reopened.
Moreover, he's quoted as saying he dreamed that when he "died and went to heaven, he would be met by all the aborted fetuses at the gates of heaven, and they would thank him for what he did because his actions saved the lives of other unborn fetuses."
There's plenty of additional information in the documents, including details about Dear's previous, less deadly anti-abortion activism. Check it out following an uncropped look at Dear's original double mug shot and a 7News report from the day of the attack.
Robert Dear Arrest Documents.pdf
