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Victims Of Colorado Planned Parenthood Shooting Can Sue

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - A Colorado appeals court has ruled that victims of the 2015 shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs can sue the nonprofit organization over what they argue was lax security. The Gazette reports that the ruling reverses a lower court decision that said only the accused shooter, Robert Dear, was liable for the deaths of three people and wounding of nine.

Robert Lewis Dear
Robert Lewis Dear in court (credit: CBS)

The surviving victims and families of the deceased argued in their lawsuit that the "long history of violence" at abortion clinics should have alerted Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains to take security precautions that might have prevented the shooting rampage.

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

Dear faces 179 charges, including several counts of murder. However, a court has determined that he is incompetent due to a psychotic delusional disorder.

(© Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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