Robert Dear, 57, of North Carolina, was arrested and charged with opening fire inside a Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic. Dear engaged in gun battles with authorities during an hours-long standoff that killed three people and wounded nine others, the Associated Press reports. The dead officer is Garrett Swasey, 44, a six-year veteran of the force at the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs. The Colorado Springs Gazette identified the other victims as Ke’Arre Marcell Stewart, an Iraq war veteran and father of two who worked at the clinic, and Jennifer Markovsky, 35, a mother of two.
Nine other people, including five police officers, were shot and are in good condition, police said. Authorities said they haven’t determined a motive or whether the shooter had any connection to Planned Parenthood. “We don’t have any information on this individual’s mentality, or his ideas or ideology,” said police spokeswoman Catherine Buckley. For several hours, the firing of a long gun was the only indication police had that the shooter was in the building. Officers finally made voice contact by shouting to him and convinced him to surrender, Buckley said. Video from The Denver Post showed a tall man in a white T-shirt being led away by police as snow fell on the frigid evening. Dear, described by acquaintances as an odd, reclusive loner, surrendered about five hours after entering the building.