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Abortion doctor shot-killed at Kansas church www.privateofficer.com
WICHITA, Kan May 31 2009. AP – Dr. George Tiller, one of the nation’s few providers of late-term abortions despite decades of protests and attacks, was shot and killed Sunday in a church where he was serving as an usher.
The gunman fled, but a 51-year-old suspect was detained some 170 miles away in suburban Kansas City three hours after the shooting, Wichita Deputy Police Chief Tom Stolz said.
Although Stolz refused to release the man’s name, Johnson County sheriff’s spokesman Tom Erickson identified the detained man as Scott Roeder. He has not been charged in the slaying and was expected to be taken to Wichita for questioning.
Court records and Internet postings show that someone using the name Scott Roeder has a criminal past and has expressed anti-abortion opinions on sympathetic Web sites.
Long a focus of national anti-abortion groups, including a summer-long protest in 1991, Tiller was shot in the foyer of Reformation Lutheran Church. Tiller’s attorney, Dan Monnat, said Tiller’s wife, Jeanne, was in the choir at the time.
The slaying of the 67-year-old doctor is “an unspeakable tragedy,” his widow, four children and 10 grandchildren said in statement. “This is particularly heart-wrenching because George was shot down in his house of worship, a place of peace.”
The family said its loss “is also a loss for the city of Wichita and women across America. George dedicated his life to providing women with high-quality health care despite frequent threats and violence.”
Stolz said all indications were that the gunman acted alone, although authorities were investigating whether he had any connection to anti-abortion groups.
Tiller’s Women’s Health Care Services clinic is one of just three in the nation where abortions are performed after the 21st week of pregnancy. The clinic was heavily fortified and Tiller often traveled with a bodyguard, but Stolz said there was no indication of security at the church Sunday.
Anti-abortion groups denounced the shooting and stressed that they support only nonviolent protest. The movement’s leaders fear the killing could create a backlash just as they are scrutinizing U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, whose views on abortion rights are not publicly known.
“We are shocked at this morning’s disturbing news that Mr. Tiller was gunned down,” Troy Newman, Operation Rescue‘s president, said in a statement. “Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice. We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning.”
But Randall Terry, a veteran anti-abortion activist who founded Operation Rescue and whose protests have often targeted Tiller, called the slain doctor “a mass murderer,” adding: “He was an evil man — his hands were covered with blood.”
At Tiller’s church, Adam Watkins, 20, said he was sitting in the middle of the congregation when he heard a small pop at the start of the service.
“We just thought a child had come in with a balloon and it had popped, had gone up and hit the ceiling and popped,” Watkins said.
Another usher came in and told the congregation to remain seated, then escorted Tiller’s wife out. “When she got to the back doors, we heard her scream, and so we knew something bad had happened,” Watkins said.
President Barack Obama said he was “shocked and outraged” by the murder. “However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence,” he said.
Reformation Lutheran Church held a special service Sunday evening. Dr. Michael Bates, who has known Tiller for more than 25 years, described it as a simple service featuring Bible readings. Reporters were kept out.
At a vigil in downtown Wichita that attracted a few hundred people, about 10 protesters from Topeka’s Westboro Baptist Church held signs emblazoned with such messages as “Abortion is bloody murder” and “Baby killer in hell.” The church is known for picketing military funerals.
The protesters and about 20 Tiller supporters shouted at each other. A large number of police officers stood by to make sure the scene stayed under control.
Tiller had in the past endured threats and violence. A protester shot Tiller in both arms in 1993, and his clinic was bombed in 1985. More recently, Monnat said Tiller had asked federal prosecutors to step up investigations of vandalism and other threats against the clinic out of fear that the incidents were increasing and that Tiller’s safety was in jeopardy. Stolz, however, said police knew of no threats connected to the shooting.
In early May, Tiller had asked the FBI to investigate vandalism at his clinic, including cut wires to surveillance cameras and damage to the roof that sent rainwater pouring into the building.
In 1991, the Summer of Mercy protests organized by Operation Rescue drew thousands of anti-abortion activists to this city for demonstrations marked by civil disobedience and mass arrests.
Tiller began providing abortion services in 1973. He acknowledged abortion was as socially divisive as slavery or prohibition but said the issue was about giving women a choice when dealing with technology that can diagnose severe fetal abnormalities before a baby is born.
Nancy Keenan, president of abortion-rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America, issued a statement praising Tiller’s commitment.
“Dr. Tiller’s murder will send a chill down the spines of the brave and courageous providers and other professionals who are part of reproductive-health centers that serve women across this country. We want them to know that they have our support as they move forward in providing these essential services in the aftermath of the shocking news from Wichita,” Keenan said.
The doctor’s violent death was the latest in a string of shootings and bombings over two decades directed against abortion clinics, doctors and staff.
The last killing of an abortion doctor was in October 1998 when Dr. Barnett Slepian was fatally shot in his home in a suburb of Buffalo, N.Y. A militant abortion opponent was convicted of the murder.
Federal marshals protected Tiller during the 1991 Summer of Mercy protests, and he was protected again between 1994 and 1998 after another abortion provider was assassinated and federal authorities reported finding Tiller’s name on an assassination list.
Someone named Scott Roeder, then 38, was charged in Topeka, Kan., in 1996 with criminal use of explosives for having bomb components in his car trunk and sentenced to 24 months of probation. However, his conviction was overturned on appeal the next year after a higher court said evidence against Roeder was seized by law enforcement officers during an illegal search of his car.
At the time, police said the FBI had identified Roeder as a member of the anti-government Freemen group, an organization that kept the FBI at bay in Jordan, Mont., for almost three months in 1995-96.
Someone posting to the Web site of Operation Rescue in May 2007 used the name “Scott Roeder” in response to a scheduled vigil to “pray for an end to George R. Tiller’s late-term abortion business.”
“Bleass everyone for attending and praying in May to bring justice to Tiller and the closing of his death camp,” the posting read. “Sometime soon, would it be feasible to organize as many people as possible to attend Tillers church (inside, not just outside) to have much more of a presence and possibly ask questions of the Pastor, Deacons, Elders and members while there? Doesn’t seem like it would hurt anything but bring more attention to Tiller.”
Security aids police in burglary arrest www.privateofficer.com
A 27-year-old Elkhart man was arrested Saturday morning following a burglary at the Forest River plant.
Police say they interrupted the burglary in progress after a security guard at the business, in the 29000 block of Old U.S. 33 in Elkhart, called for help shortly after midnight.
When they arrived, they discovered TVs taken from recreational vehicles, police said in a press release.
The case remains under investigation and other people may be involved.
The suspect, who also had three outstanding warrants, was taken to the Elkhart County Jail.
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Jury indicts 16yr old for robbery, shooting security www.privateofficer.com
A Howard County grand jury indicted a 16-year-old Columbia teenager on a slew of charges stemming from the attempted robbery and shooting at a security guard near the Long Reach Village Center in Columbia earlier this month.
Darnell Rasheen Furby was indicted Wednesday on charges of first-degree assault; theft of less than $500; second-degree assault; use of a handgun in the commission of a felony violent crime; and conspiracy to commit assault in the second degree.
A trial has not yet been scheduled.
Furby is one of three males arrested in connection with the crime. Rick Britton, 20, of Odenton, faces attempted murder, assault and attempted armed robbery and handgun charges. Derrod Peterson, 18, is charged with assault and attempted robbery
Police said they received a number of calls the evening of May 13 from people who heard a series of gunshots in the 8800 block of Flowerstock Row. Investigators arrived and discovered a 27-year old security guard who said he’d been confronted by three men and punched in the face. One of the assailants fired multiple shots at him as he fled, the guard told police. All of the shots missed. The men stole cash from his security vehicle, the guard said.
Police never identified the victim or said what he was guarding.
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Section 8 Vouvher Scam Hits Nashville www.privateofficer.com
One victim is a woman who was staying in a hotel and looking for a safe place to raise her children and grandchildren. She saw an ad on Craig’s List and thought she’d found a good home.
“We went in the house, looked at the house and took all the pictures of the house and everybody was ooing and aahing and happy,” said Melonye Burns.
The Craig’s List ad said it had section 8 housing vouchers available to help pay the rent on a brand new home on Shelby Avenue in East Nashville. Melonye Burns says she called the phone number on the ad and a man portrayed himself as an MDHA employee.
She met him at a downtown hotel where she paid him more than $1,300 as a deposit for the rent.
He gave her the keys to the house, but when she went there, they didn’t work.
“I called him to find out what was going on, why he gave me keys to a house that didn’t work and who was he. He’d completely changed his phone number, couldn’t get in touch with him,” said Burns.
A security camera at the hotel captured photographs of the suspect who called himself James Kingsley. Metro Police say he is scamming people who desperately need housing.
Metro Police are asking for information. If you know who this person is, call Metro Police.
A spokeswoman for MDHA says the agency does not advertise on Craig’s List or similar websites, and never takes money. Applications and vouchers are only available at the MDHA office.
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Constable shoots man refusing to kneel www.privateofficer.com
The shooting happened in the parking lot of the El Bandolero nightclub in east El Paso. Sheriff’s deputies say two constables were off-duty and were working at the club when they heard shots ring out.
Tovar said the constables ran out and saw a man running through the parking lot. After a brief chase, the constables said they found the man hiding between vehicles.
Investigators said the constables identified themselves and ordered the man to put his hands up. The suspect then made a sudden movement around his waist and that’s when one of the constables fired a single shot and struck the man in his leg, Tovar said.
“It seems the constables did a good job identifying themselves and they did have a right to be there because they were responding to what they had heard as an apparent gun shot in the parking lot,” Tovar added.
The shooting is still under investigation by the sheriff’s office and the suspect may face charges. “The individual that got shot, we have him under investigation,” said Tovar. “He is facing evading charges because he did flee. The constables did have a right to stop him, they do have peace officer powers.”
The suspect shot was still recovering at Thomason Hospital Saturday afternoon.
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Shoplifters charged after police pursuit www.privateofficer.com
Manchester police said they have arrested a pair of expert shoplifters after a brief chase.
According to police, the two women nearly got away with thousands of dollar’s worth of merchandise at the Buckland Hills Mall.
A store security official alerted undercover police detectives, and the chase began. Laverne Richardson and Keashie Walker, both of Hartford, tried to flee from officers in a silver-gray Lexus
Police pursued the duo for about a quarter mile before the women pulled over and were arrested without incident; although, it was initially reported that they tried to run over the undercover officer.
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