Planned Parenthood Shooter Praised On Social Media
The Planned Parenthood shooter is behind bars, but he took the lives of three people during his rampage Friday in Colorado. Patheos reports that 57-year-old Robert Lewis Dear has earned instant notoriety as a would-be mass shooter during a rocky political climate surrounding women’s reproductive rights. However, with that notoriety, he has also earned the apparent support of folks who claim to be “pro-life.”
Many of the comments appear to show no sympathy whatsoever for the three people who were reportedly killed by Robert Lewis Dear. And even though some of the social media users deleted their comments in praise of the alleged shooter, screenshots of them remain — and are currently going viral.
If you are praising the attacks on #PlannedParenthood YOU are what is wrong with America. YOU are inhumane.
— Jacob Hemphill (@FoolofAPirate) November 28, 2015
4 people claiming to be pro life but praising the shooter. Thanks 4 completely exposing your hypocrisy & Burn In Hell. #PlannedParenthood
— Kathy Burton (@kathyskontests) November 28, 2015
Conservative Logic: Trying to prove you’re pro-life by taking up arms and murdering people #PlannedParenthood
— Jessica Angelina (@JAMfetish) November 28, 2015
Currently, it’s hard to pinpoint a motive for exactly why the man killed three innocent people while taking aim at the Planned Parenthood, but the latest media reports indicate that he had far-right, conservative views. The New Civil Rights Movement writes that a neighbor of the accused shooter offered some information.
Robert Lewis Dear reportedly hates President Obama, and has passed out anti-Obama pamphlets around his neighborhood. The neighbor, Zigmond Post, told reporters that his neighbor thought that Obama is “ruining the country and needs to be impeached.” Nonetheless, he was shocked at what Dear is accused of doing.
“You never think your neighbor would do anything like that.”
The accused Planned Parenthood shooter also has an interesting criminal past. He’s also reportedly been the subject of at least nine different investigations, stemming from his time residing in North Carolina and South Carolina. He has been charged with animal cruelty in the past — though he was not convicted — and has even been accused of being a peeping tom. Mayor John Suthers of Colorado Springs has reportedly referred to the accused shooter as a “misdirected ideologue.”
Regardless of the accused shooter’s reasoning for killing three people at Planned Parenthood, it must be noted that at least one of the victims was “pro-life.” The police officer killed in the incident has been revealed to be a part-time Christian pastor who is anti-abortion. He risked his life, ultimately losing it, to protect people who shared differing views than his — a stark contrast between his character and the character of the accused shooter.
Dear reportedly muttered “no more baby parts” upon his arrest, which has people believing that this shooting was politically oriented. After all, Planned Parenthood was recently at the center of a controversy, which surrounded their handling of discarded fetuses after abortions are performed. While it’s been proven that videos that circulated about this controversy were falsified, Planned Parenthood continues to be targeted by ultra-conservatives — some of which claim to be pro-life, while praising a man who methodically killed three people. Hopefully as more time passes, the man’s full motive becomes clarified.
[Image via City of Colorado Springs (mugshot)]
