The man suspected of killing a police officer and two others during a siege at a Planned Parenthood clinic reportedly ranted "no more baby parts" after being taken into custody, two reports say.
Robert Lewis Dear, a North Carolina native who was living in a trailer in Colorado, made statements to police at the scene of the Colorado Springs attack Thursday, and in interviews law enforcement sources described as rantings,
according to NBC News.
In one statement, made after the suspect was taken in for questioning, Dear said "no more baby parts" in reference to Planned Parenthood, NBC News reports, citing two unnamed law enforcement sources.
The bloodshed was "definitely politically motivated,’"
an unnamed official tells the Washington Post.
According to NBC News, the extent to which the "baby parts" remark played into any decision to target the Planned Parenthood office wasn't yet clear.
The alleged gunman also mentioned Barack Obama in statements, NBC News reports.
Dear is being held on no bond, and isn't expected to appear in court until Monday.
NBC News also reports there wasn't anything in Dear's background – like a felony conviction or mental health issue – that would have disqualified him from buying a AK-47 style, high-powered rifle used in the shootings.
Yet, NBC News reports, he did have other arrests, including one for domestic violence against his then-wife in 1997, and for being a "peeping Tom" in 2002 in South Carolina.
One Planned Parenthood official speculates the incident may be rooted in a "poisonous environment."
"We don’t yet know the full circumstances and motives behind this criminal action, and we don’t yet know if Planned Parenthood was in fact the target of this attack," Vicki Cowart, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, said in a written statement, the Post reports.
"We share the concerns of many Americans that extremists are creating a poisonous environment that feeds domestic terrorism in this country. We will never back away from providing care in a safe, supportive environment that millions of people rely on and trust."