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Planned Parenthood Suspected Gunman: 'They Wanted To Start A War'

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4) - The suspected gunman in the Planned Parenthood attack in Colorado Springs believes the FBI was following him the day he allegedly opened fire at the clinic.

Prosecutors have charged Robert Lewis Dear with 179 counts of crimes including first-degree murder, attempted murder and assault in the Nov. 27, 2015 attack that left three people dead and nine others injured.

Robert Lewis Dear
Robert Lewis Dear in court on Dec. 9, 2015 (credit: CBS)

Dear, 57, called CBS4 from the El Paso County Jail. CBS4 Investigator Rick Sallinger talked to Dear on the phone on Wednesday where he described that the attack wasn't calculated before that day.

"It wasn't planned, as far as that goes. It was just a spur of the moment that... okay. They wanted, they wanted to slay, to come for me, they wanted to start a war, and so that's why I did it," said Dear.

During a court appearance, Dear declared himself "a warrior for the babies" and said he was guilty.

He also claimed the truth was being hidden, "There's a lot more to this than to me to go silently into the grave."

Dear said his troubles began 22 years ago when he complained on the radio about the FBI at the siege in Waco, Texas. Since then, he claimed to have been followed and harassed by the FBI.

Dear told Sallinger that 10 FBI agents were following him from his trailer home in Hartsel that morning.

"I felt like they were going to get me and so I am going to pick where I want to make my last stand. And I picked Planned Parenthood because it's murdering little babies."

shooting at colorado springs planned parenthood clinic
(credit: CBS)

Dear claimed the FBI tipped off the clinic that he was on his way.

"Well, when I got there of course, those guys knew I was armed, knew everything about me. They slither off like snakes and they get the local cops to do their dirty work, so that's why the shootout was there," said Dear.

Planned Parenthood Attack Victims Garrett Swasey Ke'Arre Stewart Jennifer Markovsky
Garrett Swasey, Ke'Arre Stewart and Jennifer Markovsky (credit: CBS)

The three people killed in the attack were Garrett Swasey, a University of Colorado-Colorado Springs police officer; Ke'Arre Stewart, an Iraq War veteran; and Jennifer Markovsky, a mother of two.

Dear has been ordered to undergo a competency hearing to determine if he can stand trial.

He told CBS4 that he is ready to stand trial.

"I'm just letting you know I am sane, I am coherent, I have a college degree."

robert dear shooting at colorado springs planned parenthood clinic
Robert Dear being arrested (credit: CBS)

He said on Wednesday that he won't cooperate.

"If I am coherent and sane why would I want to open Pandora's Box?"

In court last month, Dear also stated he wouldn't cooperate with a psychiatric exam.

"I'm not going to agree to their mental health evaluations where they want to take me and put me on their psychotropic drugs."

Dear insists there will be no trial because he wants to represent himself and plead guilty.

"Well I'm just an honest man and I believe I'm guilty so I am just going to plead guilty," said Dear.

Dear told Sallinger he expected to die that day but after more than five hours, chose to give up.

"And now the rest of my life I will either be executed or in here."

When asked if he was trying to be considered a martyr, Dear replied, "That's for God to decide what I am but I am just letting you know I am sane."

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