Watch CBS News

Planned Parenthood gunman: I'm on "righteous crusade"

Confessed Planned Parenthood gunman Robert Dear says the November shooting spree that killed three people and wounded nine was part of a "righteous crusade" he's on.

In a phone interview from jail, Dear, 57, told KRDO-TV in Colorado Springs he feels no guilt over his actions.

Dear said his victims were in "a war zone. They were there where the babies were being killed. You go to a war zone. That's what happens.

"In a war, there's gonna be casualties. Are you gonna name the hundred million babies that were killed, that nobody talks about, nobody represents them, they have no voice, but yet our Constitution says we have the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness?"

Dear later added, "I don't have any guilt! I am in a war!"

Asked whether he valued life, he said, "Of course! That's why I did it! I killed three and I saved 3,000."

Last week, a mental competency hearing for Dear was delayed until next month.

He is charged with 179 counts including murder, attempted murder and assault.

Last month, Dear called CBS Denver reporter Rick Sallinger from jail and said his problems began while watching the Branch Davidian siege in Texas.

"It started 22 years ago in Waco... I'm a Christian and so when they burned up those Christians and 17 little kids and everything else I was pretty upset about it and I called the radio station."

Dear claimed he's been stalked by the FBI ever since then and he decided to make his last stand at Planned Parenthood to save babies.

"They got 4,000 babies get aborted every day," Dear told Sallinger. "I guarantee you they had a lot of cancellations and I might have saved a thousand."

Dear told Sallinger he is sane and wants to plead guilty, but that will be revealed in the state hospital's mental competence report.

"At that point either side can request that their doctor examine the defendant to also determine competency," El Paso District Attorney Dan May said. "Either side can contest the findings of the state hospital if they want."

The definition of competency is whether the defendant is able to understand the charges against him and assist in his own defense.

The clinic reopened earlier this motth for the first time since the shooting.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.