While questions remain about the alleged gunman’s motives, local leaders detailed the response they said saved lives.
Community members gather at a vigil Saturday at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Colorado Springs.
David Zalubowski / AP
As investigators began the long process of seeking answers in the hours-long shooting and standoff that left three people dead, Planned Parenthood officials on Saturday said they believed the tragedy was motivated by opposition to abortion.
Friday started as a normal day at the health center in Colorado Springs — but a normal day at Planned Parenthood also includes a fair amount of attention to security, regional president and CEO Vicki Cowart told BuzzFeed News.
Beyond the near-daily protests at the public sidewalk adjacent to the medical complex, no city or Planned Parenthood official was aware of any previous threat of violence directed at the Colorado Springs clinic. Cowart on Saturday said based on witness accounts, the organization now believes the shooting was "motivated by opposition to safe and legal abortion."
It was close to noon when a staff member in the lobby heard the first gunshot, which Planned Parenthood officials believe took place outside the clinic. The staff's active shooter training kicked in, Cowart said. The health center manager dialed 911, and everyone else silenced their cell phones. The young woman in the lobby ushered waiting patients to the back of the building's exam rooms and offices.
"That probably saved many lives," Cowart said.
Mayor John Suthers was in communication with Colorado Springs Police Chief Peter Carey early in the five-hour standoff and joined the numerous members of law enforcement agencies at the command post.
Among the police and sheriff's deputies who came to the scene were security staff from Planned Parenthood, who gave officers access to interior security cameras and images of the building's layout.
The diagrams were emailed to officers inside the clinic, Suthers said, offering crucial intel.
Through the security cameras, officers in the command post watched the movements of the suspect, later identified as Robert L. Dear. Command post staff passed on the suspect's locations to the officers inside, allowing them to extract the nine patients and 15 Planned Parenthood staff members hiding in other parts of the building.
"It was pretty amazing to watch," Suthers said.
Suthers was also there for the chilling radio call that an officer was down. Other officers remained calm in spite of the tense situation, he said.
He described the suspect's movements as calm and deliberate.
Colorado Springs shooting suspect Robert Lewis Dear of North Carolina is seen in undated photos provided by the El Paso County Sheriff's Office.
El Paso County Sheriff's Office via AP
At first, the alleged gunman sat in a chair, wearing a trench coat and holding what appeared to be an assault weapon, Suthers said. He then moved to a hallway where he had a better vantage point of officers' arrival.
As part of the SWAT response, police drove a bearcat — an armored vehicle — into the lobby of the clinic. They were preparing for a final assault, driving into the area where the suspect was cornered, when he called out to officers, Suthers said.
"Just as those final preparations were taking place, he yelled to people that he was willing to give up," Suther said. "So we watched on the security cameras as he gave himself up."
One police officer and two civilians were killed in the shooting. Nine others were taken to hospitals with injuries, five of whom are police officers.
A day after the tragedy, some normalcy slowly began to return to Colorado Springs. The King Sooper grocery store where many of the 300 bystanders hid allowed them to return for left-behind belongings Saturday morning. By midday, its doors reopened to shoppers.
But the medical plaza where the Planned Parenthood clinic has been for about six years remained cordoned off, the lights of squad cars flashing bright against the new snow, as crime scene investigators went to work. The investigation — being assisted by federal law enforcement — is only at its beginning, Carey told reporters Saturday afternoon.
"It was a tough night, and there is much to be done today and in the coming weeks," Carey said.
The quick response of officers from multiple agencies, including the University of Colorado Colorado Springs police, helped save lives, Carey added.
The mayor met Saturday morning with the four injured officers who remained at Penrose Hospital. They were surrounded by colleagues and relatives, and Suthers said they were in good spirits.
"A couple of them are very lucky in terms of where bullets hit," he said.
Suthers added they were all looking forward to healing and getting back to their jobs.
"They felt it was a privilege to be doing their jobs and want to get back at it," he said.
Officer Garrett Swasey was among the three people killed in the shooting. The names of two others, identified only as civilians, have not been released pending autopsies scheduled for Monday and notification of family.
SOURCE: BuzzFeed
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