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Suspect in Colorado clinic shooting to appear in court

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The man accused of opening fire at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs lived a troubled, isolated life in the mountains of South Carolina and Colorado, but acquaintances said he never hinted that he would target the organization.

Robert Lewis Dear, 57, will make his first appearance in court Monday. He is accused of killing a police officer and two civilians – an Iraq war veteran and a mother of two – who were accompanying separate friends to the clinic. The rampage touched off an hourslong standoff and shootout Friday that also left nine other people in the hospital. Dear’s court appearance will be done by video Monday afternoon in Colorado Springs.

Colorado Springs police on Sunday said they would not disclose any information on the motive for the attack.

Dear has been described by acquaintances as a reclusive loner who didn’t seem to have strong political or social opinions.

Neighbors who live near Dear’s former South Carolina home say he hid food in the woods and lived off selling prints of his uncle’s paintings of Southern plantations and the Masters golf tournament. After he moved to Colorado, he once gave a neighbor pamphlets opposing President Barack Obama.

“He didn’t talk about them or anything. He just said, ‘Look them over when you get a chance,'” Zigmond Post said.

A law enforcement official said Dear told authorities “no more baby parts” after being arrested, part of a rambling statement that investigators are parsing to understand the reasoning.

The law enforcement official who recounted Dear’s statement spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not allowed to publicly discuss the ongoing investigation. The official said the “no more baby parts” comment was among a number of statements he made to authorities after his arrest, making it difficult to know his specific motivation.

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