THE COST OF BRAVERY: Court unseals Planned Parenthood arrest records, officer injuries disclosed
Heather Skold
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Newly unsealed court documents have revealed the toll of law enforcement bravery during the chaos of the Planned Parenthood shooting ten years ago.
Months ago, KRDO13 put forth a motion to have the original probable cause documents of confessed shooter, Robert Dear, who passed away on Nov. 22, unsealed. They were sealed shortly after the incident to preserve the investigation; this week, the court ruled in KRDO13’s favor to unseal the records despite objections from the defendant’s former counsel.
At three pages, the document is brief, but it lists the names of the law enforcement personnel who were shot and survived the hail of gunfire on Black Friday, 2015:
Colorado Springs Police Officer Michael Zamonas was shot in the left hand; CSPD Tactical Officer Dan Carter was shot in the left leg; CSPD Tactical Officer Robert Wolf was shot in the left hand and left upper arm area; CSPD Officer John Ford was shot in the upper left arm.
El Paso County Sergeant Jason Hess was shot in the right lower leg.
UCCS Officer, Garrett Swasey, was shot and killed.
Before this point in time, their stories and bravery have been kept in the shadows, pending the legal proceedings of the case.
According to a federal indictment, Robert Dear had four SKS rifles, five handguns, two additional rifles, a shotgun, and more than 500 rounds of ammunition.
Upon his surrender, Dear told police that he brought propane tanks with him, shooting them in the hopes they would explode. They did not.
He surrendered to tactical officers, and upon being placed into a patrol car, he “yelled out a statement about the killing of babies,” according to the court document.
Dear at age 67, died in federal custody due to heart failure, five days prior to the tenth anniversary of the deadly shooting.