COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Robert Lewis Dear was reclusive, and he seldom spoke to neighbors in a desolate stretch of land in rural Colorado where he lived.
Now, it's his words that are drawing the most attention as police try to discern his motivations for a shooting attack they say he carried out Friday at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs that killed three people, including a police officer.
After his arrest, Dear, 57, said "no more baby parts," according to a law enforcement official, who could not elaborate and spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing investigation.
Planned Parenthood cited witnesses as saying the gunman was motivated by his opposition to abortion.
The attack thrust the clinic to the center of the debate over Planned Parenthood, which was reignited in July when anti-abortion activists released undercover video they said showed the group's personnel negotiating the sale of fetal organs.
Planned Parenthood has denied seeking any payments beyond legally permitted reimbursement costs for donating the organs to researchers. Still, the National Abortion Federation says it has since seen a rise in threats at clinics nationwide.
Vicki Cowart, the regional head of Planned Parenthood, said Sunday on ABC's This Week that the organization has faced hateful speech.
"I can't believe that this isn't contributing to some folks, mentally unwell or not, thinking that it's OK to — to target Planned Parenthood or to target abortion providers," she said.
Anti-abortion activists, part of a group called the Center for Medical Progress, denounced the "barbaric killing spree in Colorado Springs by a violent madman" and offered prayers for the dead and wounded and for their families.
The Planned Parenthood facility in Colorado Springs provides women's health services and has long been the site of regular anti-abortion protests. The Rev. Bill Carmody, a Roman Catholic priest who has held weekly Mass in front of the clinic for 20 years, said Dear wasn't part of his group.
Neighbors described Dear, who is expected to make his first court appearance Monday, as reclusive. They said he stashed food in the woods, avoided eye contact and warned neighbors about government spying.
At a vigil Saturday at All Souls Unitarian Church, the Rev. Nori Rost called the gunman a "domestic terrorist." In the back of the room, someone held a sign that said, "Women's bodies are not battlefields. Neither is our town."