DENVER (CN) — Victims of a 2015 mass shooting at a Planned Parenthood in Colorado brought their premises liability case to trial Tuesday, claiming the nonprofit failed to provide security measures that could have prevented the attack.
On Nov. 27, 2015, Robert Dear pulled into the Planned Parenthood Colorado Springs Health Center armed with four SKS rifles, two handguns, a shotgun, a rifle and a propane tank. Intending to wage a war against the fertility clinic which provides abortions, the then-57-year-old Dear fired hundreds of bullets at patients and staff both in the parking lot and inside the facility.
Dear took his first victim's life within one minute of his arrival then killed two others including a police officer during his five-hour ambush of the facility.
Federal prosecutors indicted in 2019, but it remains to be seen whether he will be found mentally fit to stand trial.
Five people sued Planned Parenthood in 2016, including Samantha Wagner whom Dear shot in the parking lot, along with her friends. A Colorado judge initially granted summary judgment in favor of Planned Parenthood, but the Colorado Court of Appeals reversed in February 2019, and the state Supreme Court affirmed.
“In this trial, you will learn that what happened here was foreseeable,” argued attorney Kirk McCormick, representing several victims, in his opening statement. He practices with the firm McCormick and Murphy.
“The defense will urge you to think you can’t stop a crazy person if they really want to do harm. We hope the evidence will lead you to believe nothing could be further from the truth and that if precautions had been taken, innocent lives would have been saved,” McCormick added.
McCormick contended the clinic should have expected threats with protesters demonstrating outside and anger generated by a viral video that falsely claimed the nonprofit sold fetal parts.
The clinic had no fence or gate restricting access to the building. While Planned Parenthood had an armed and trained security guard, he worked part-time and was off duty when Dear attacked.
After McCormick highlighted security failures, defense attorney Kevin Taylor countered that the building’s set-up protected 22 people who were in the health clinic that day. He also told jurors a fence would have made it more difficult for law enforcement to respond to the attack.
“Neither the FBI nor the Colorado Bureau of Investigation nor the National Security Administration nor the Colorado Springs Police knew about Dear,” Taylor said. “Not even his girlfriend knew what he was going to do.”
He added: “You can’t prevent someone who is armed to the teeth and ready to die for their cause without actionable evidence. This man was dedicated to killing and mayhem. We wish as a society we could somehow foresee it, we wish we could prevent it.”
Second Judicial District Court Judge Chris J. Baumann, appointed by former Governor John Hickenlooper, is presiding over the trial, which is slated to last two weeks before a jury of seven.
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