Assassination of George Tiller

George Tiller, a physician nationally known for his practice of performing late-term abortions, was shot to death on May 31, 2009.

The murder of George Tiller refers to the May 31, 2009, shooting of George Tiller, a physician from Wichita, Kansas, who was nationally known for being one of the few doctors in the country who performed late-term abortions. Tiller was shot to death during a Sunday morning service at his church, where Tiller was serving as an usher. Many believed the killing to be directly related to Tiller's position on abortion. Tiller's killing was widely condemned by people and groups on both sides of the issue. Several (most notably TV news personality Rachel Maddow) has labeled Doctor Tiller's murder an assassination.

The anti-abortion activist Scott Roeder was arrested within three hours of the shooting, and was charged with first-degree murder and related charges two days later. Roeder previously had ties to anti-government organizations and was convicted of explosives charges in 1996, but they were overturned a year later. Prior to the shooting, Roeder allegedly developed extreme anti-abortion views in the years before the shooting. Roeder reportedly attended a trial in which Tiller was aquited of violating state abotions laws, and he described the trial as "a sham".

Shooting and aftermath

George Tiller was killed on May 31, 2009, shot to death during worship services at the Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita, where he was serving as an usher. The church is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Tiller was shot in the head at point blank range; he was wearing a flak jacket, as he had been since 1998, when the FBI told him he was No. 1 on the hit list of violent anti-abortion extremists. After threatening two others who tried to prevent his departure, the gunman fled in a car. Witnesses described the vehicle as a powder-blue 1993 Ford Taurus.

Calling the murder "an abhorrent act of violence", U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that "Federal law enforcement is coordinating with local law enforcement officials in Kansas on the investigation of this crime, and I have directed the United States Marshals Service to offer protection to other appropriate people and facilities around the nation."

Arrest of murder suspect

The mugshot of Scott Roeder, imprisoned in 1998 for violating parole on a 1996 conviction for driving with a suspended license and lacking vehicle registration and auto insurance.

Scott Roeder was arrested some 170 miles away in suburban Kansas City three hours after the shooting. He was charged on June 2, 2009, with first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault. Roeder was formally charged before a Sedgwick County district judge on June 2. He said very little during the hearing, where he asked for a public defender and did not enter a plea. Roeder is currently being held without bond in the county jail until a preliminary hearing, scheduled for June 16. Prosecutors said the killing did not meet Kansas's standards for capital murder, which would have carried a possible death penalty. Prior to the shooting, Roeder was not among the people monitored as potential threats by some abortion rights groups, including the state chapter of the National Organization for Women.

Background of Scott Roeder

Scott Philip Roeder had been a member of the anti-government Montana Freemen group and was convicted in 1996 on explosives charges after police officers discovered a fuse cord, a pound of gunpowder and nine-volt batteries in the trunk of his car. The Kansas Court of Appeals overturned this conviction in 1997, ruling that the search of Roeder's car had been illegal. Roeder's ex-wife Lindsey asserted in a 2009 interview after Tiller's killing that the explosives had been intended for detonation at an abortion clinic. David Leach, publisher of Prayer & Action News, a magazine that describes itself as "a trumpet call for the Armies of God to assemble" and that opines that the killing of abortion providers would be justifiable homicide, told reporters that he and Roeder had met once in the early 1990s and that Roeder had authored contributions to Leach's publication later in that decade. Leach published the Army of God manual, which advocates the killing of the providers of abortion and contains bomb-making instructions, in the January 1996 issue of his magazine.

A 2005 court mentioned that Roeder had been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

In 2007, someone who identified himself as Scott Roeder posted on the website of pro-life group Operation Rescue that, "Tiller is the concentration camp 'Mengele' of our day and needs to be stopped before he and those who protect him bring judgment upon our nation." Officials from Operation Rescue, which had long opposed Tiller's abortion practices but denounced his shooting, said Roeder was not a contributor or member of the group. Roeder reportedly attended the 2009 trial in which Tiller was acquitted of violationg state abortion laws; Roeder called the trial "a sham" and felt the justice system failed in letting Tiller go free. One day before Tiller was killed, a worker at Tiller's Kansas City clinic told the Federal Bureau of Investigation that Roeder had tried gluing the locks of the clinic shut, something Roeder was suspected of doing there before years earlier.

Reactions to Tiller's killing

A June 1, 2009, candlelight vigil in Boston, Massachusetts, for George Tiller.

American President Barack Obama said, "I am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr George Tiller as he attended church services this morning. However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence."

The Kansas chapter of the National Organization for Women issued a statement that read in part, "The Kansas National Organization for Women is deeply saddened at the cowardly act of violence committed against Dr. George Tiller, a champion for women's reproductive freedom — an act that ultimately took his life. Dr. Tiller, although previously surviving many acts of terrorism and violence directed at him and his clinic, did not allow it to stop him from standing up for the rights of all women. Kansas NOW grieves not only the loss of Dr. Tiller, but also the loss that all women needing access to safe abortion have suffered due to this act of violence."

A number of other Organizations also condemned the murder. The American Jewish Congress condemned the killing, stating in a press release that Tiller's murder "exemplifies criminal anarchy, not legitimate protest. Dr. Tiller’s murder was not just a terrible crime against an individual. It was also a crime against our democracy... Murder is not a debating technique. It is never, and must never be, an accepted way of advancing a point of view. The National Council of Jewish Women also condemned the his murder, with President Nancy Ratzan stating that "Dr. Tiller devoted his life to ensuring that women did indeed have choices when confronted with an unintended or untenable pregnancy. His murder -- his assassination -- is intended to terrorize not only all involved with providing abortions but anyone even remotely associated with abortion rights." The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism also condemned Tiller's murder.

Several pro-life organizations condemned the murder. David N. O’Steen, director the National Right to Life Committee released this statement on May 31, 2009: "National Right to Life extends its sympathies to Dr. Tiller’s family over this loss of life. Further, the National Right to Life Committee unequivocally condemns any such acts of violence regardless of motivation. The pro-life movement works to protect the right to life and increase respect for human life. The unlawful use of violence is directly contrary to that goal." Operation Rescue released this statement on May 31, 2009: "We are shocked at this morning’s disturbing news that Mr. Tiller was gunned down. Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice. We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning. We pray for Mr. Tiller’s family that they will find comfort and healing that can only be found in Jesus Christ." Mary Kay Culp, director of Kansans for Life, said that the organization “deplores the murder of Dr. George Tiller, and we wish to express our deep and sincere sympathy to his family and friends. We value life, completely deplore violence, and are shocked and very upset by what happened in Wichita today.”

Some people/organizations did express support or lack of sympathy for the murder. Randall Terry, an anti-abortion rights activist, said: "George Tiller was a mass-murderer. We grieve for him that he did not have time to properly prepare his soul to face God. I am more concerned that the Obama Administration will use Tiller's killing to intimidate pro-lifers into surrendering our most effective rhetoric and actions. Abortion is still murder. And we still must call abortion by its proper name; murder. Those men and women who slaughter the unborn are murderers according to the Law of God. We must continue to expose them in our communities and peacefully protest them at their offices and homes, and yes, even their churches." Wiley Drake, vice-presidential candidate for the America's Independent Party ticket in 2008, said on his radio show that "Would you have rejoiced when Adolf Hitler died during the war? ... I would have said, 'Amen, praise the Lord, hallelujah, I'm glad he's dead.' This man, George Tiller, was far greater in his atrocities than Adolf Hitler. So I am happy. I am glad that he is dead."

See also

• Anti-abortion violence
• Terrorism
• Lone wolf (terrorism)
• Domestic terrorism in the United States
• Christian terrorism
• Army of God

External link

• "State of Kansas v. Scott P. Roeder" (filed 2 June 2009; hosted on the Wichita Eagle website)