Witness Tells of Abortion Provider’s Last Moments

[Peikko 1,575]

WICHITA, Kan. — Dr. George R. Tiller was standing beside a refreshment table inside his church, discussing his fondness for doughnuts, when a man walked up, pressed a gun against the doctor’s head and fired, a fellow church member recalled on Tuesday.

“I wasn’t sure if it was a cap gun or what,” Gary Hoepner, the church member, testified in a hearing here that offered the first significant details of what happened on May 31, the day that Dr. Tiller, one of the nation’s only doctors to perform late-term abortions, was killed.

“And then George fell,” said Mr. Hoepner, who testified he had been standing within touching distance of Dr. Tiller in the church foyer and who, like Dr. Tiller, had been serving as an usher that Sunday morning. “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” added Mr. Hoepner, a member of the church, Reformation Lutheran, he said, for 52 years.

Scott P. Roeder, 51, of Kansas City, Mo., is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Dr. Tiller, 67, whose clinic had been at the center of the nation’s abortion debate for more than three decades.

On Tuesday, Mr. Roeder, wearing a jacket, tie and leg shackles, sat in the courtroom, appearing to listen closely to the testimony against him and jotting notes at times. If a judge finds by the end of Tuesday’s preliminary hearing that there is enough evidence to proceed with a case against Mr. Roeder, he will be asked to enter a plea.

Tuesday’s testimony suggested that Mr. Roeder, a vocal opponent of abortion, had been to the church several times before, including on the Sunday before the shooting, and that ushers and others had taken note of him as someone who was not a member. On that earlier Sunday, Mr. Hoepner said, Mr. Roeder had placed a written note (with some reference to taxes, which Mr. Roeder has also told friends he opposes) in the collection plate.

That weekend before, Mr. Hoepner also said, Dr. Tiller had not attended church, though he was listed in the church bulletin, handed out each week to all who come, as an usher for the entire month of May.

Only a small cluster of observers sat in the courtroom on Tuesday, and at least seven were uniformed law enforcement authorities amid extremely tight security. Dr. Tiller’s family was not in attendance, nor were the leaders of the anti-abortion groups that have cropped up in this city over 30 years in order to protest Dr. Tiller’s clinic, which closed after his death. The leaders of the largest anti-abortion groups here have denounced the killing, and distanced themselves from Mr. Roeder.

Mr. Roeder, who used the e-mail name ServantofMessiah and was sometimes seen at abortion clinic protests in Kansas City, Kan., has indicated in one of a string of jailhouse interviews that he had contributed to Operation Rescue. But the group has said he was not a contributor.

In incidents in earlier decades, Dr. Tiller had been shot in both arms by an abortion opponent in 1993, had his clinic bombed in 1986 and had been threatened repeatedly since the 1970s. There had been “disruptions” at the church, too, because of Dr. Tiller’s presence, and church members were watchful, Mr. Hoepner said.

“It’s not like we’re scrutinizing people,” he testified, adding, “We’re leery sometimes.” Still, he said, no formal note was made by church leaders of Mr. Roeder’s earlier visits to the church; it was merely something that had been noticed, as Mr. Hoepner and others sought to determine whether this was a guest who might become a new member or whether there was some other agenda.

If convicted, Mr. Roeder could face life in prison. Mr. Roeder is also charged with two counts of aggravated assault; prosecutors say he threatened to shoot Mr. Hoepner and another church usher who tried to stop him after the shooting.

The shooting occurred just as the service was starting, and Mr. Hoepner and Dr. Tiller, as ushers, had lingered in the foyer to hand out bulletins to latecomers after the crowds went inside the sanctuary. The two stood beside a table of juice and doughnuts, Mr. Hoepner said, exchanging small talk. It was then, he said, that Mr. Roeder emerged from the sanctuary through a door often used for those slipping off to the restroom, stepped into the foyer and shot Dr. Tiller.

Mr. Hoepner said he followed Mr. Roeder outside toward the parking lot of cars, but stopped when the man turned and called out, “I’ve got a gun and I’ll shoot you.” He said he ran instead to his truck to find his cellphone and call 911, as the man climbed into his car. A second usher kept running after Mr. Roeder, Mr. Hoepner said, ultimately flinging a cup of coffee at the car as he drove off. Mr. Roeder was arrested along a Kansas highway a few hours later.

Link

Edited July 28, 2009 by Madame Cleo

[Niels Bohr 72]

Killing another person doesn't make things right.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

The world would be better off without extremist nutjobs.

[Danno 1,228]

Are they serving donuts in church now?

[nurse1967 287]

I am sorry but you live by the sword, you die by the sword. Hard to feel sorry for this sicko who killed countless babies in his career.

[Niels Bohr 72]

The Dr. was well within the law. Unlike those who kill people are way above the law. You don't decide the law. The state do.

Edited July 29, 2009 by Niels Bohr

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

How does practicing a medical career equate to "living by the sword".

Regardless of what people think about it, the Doctor's profession was legal. Though as usual there's no shortage of misinformation flying about about it.

Whether you agree with it or not, there's absolutely no way that can be used to justify his being shot down in cold blood.

[mawilson 2,133]

WICHITA, Kan. — Dr. George R. Tiller was standing beside a refreshment table inside his church, discussing his fondness for doughnuts, when a man walked up, pressed a gun against the doctor’s head and fired, a fellow church member recalled on Tuesday.

Doughnuts kill.

[Danno 1,228]

How does practicing a medical career equate to "living by the sword".

Regardless of what people think about it, the Doctor's profession was legal. Though as usual there's no shortage of misinformation flying about about it.

Whether you agree with it or not, there's absolutely no way that can be used to justify his being shot down in cold blood.

It's not about "Justifying" anything or anyone.

The guy pulled healthy fetuses out of woman and teens... piece by piece, often into the 3rd trimester.... simply to make money. (And he made lots).

I don't try to justify the guy taking the law in his own hands.... I simply "don't care" that this doctor was put down.

There are lots more deserving people to get teary-eyed about.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

How does practicing a medical career equate to "living by the sword".

Regardless of what people think about it, the Doctor's profession was legal. Though as usual there's no shortage of misinformation flying about about it.

Whether you agree with it or not, there's absolutely no way that can be used to justify his being shot down in cold blood.

It's not about "Justifying" anything or anyone.

The guy pulled healthy fetuses out of woman and teens... piece by piece, often into the 3rd trimester.... simply to make money. (And he made lots).

I don't try to justify the guy taking the law in his own hands.... I simply "don't care" that this doctor was put down.

There are lots more deserving people to get teary-eyed about.

Well how else would you explain the "live by the sword, die by the sword" comment then Danno?

The position that the doctor's murder was an outrage, doesn't require any sort of sentiment or emotional investment towards the doctor - only a recognition of the vast difference between a politically motivated murder and the legally permissable termination of pregnancies carried out on willing patients.

So what if the doctor made a lot of money - that's hardly a crime...

[Danno 1,228]

MAke you wonder why this guy chose that place and that means as a way to carry out his mission?

Obviously the guy is not playing with a full deck.

He could have easily have snippered the Doc coming to or leaving his home and made a clean get-a-way.

Oh well I guess this way he got to look the good Doctor right in the eyes..... and get free donuts.

I hope they were not those cheap powdered ones, .... you know the little ones in the bag.

They leave that film all over your hands ....and who wants to handle a firearm after that?

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

You're a sick puppy, Danno.