The three slain victims were officer Garrett Swasey, a father of two; Ke’Arre Stewart, a father of two and Iraq War veteran; and Jennifer Markovsky, a mother of two who was at the clinic in support of a friend. All of the nine injured victims are said to be in good condition and expected to recover. One survivor, Ozy Licano, described the shooting.
Ozy Licano: “As I was looking at him, I saw blood. I didn’t know if it was coming from my neck or my lip or what. I felt stuff hit me, and I felt a pain here, a pain here. So I thought my jugular vein or my—I was bleeding internally, so I just thought instead of trying to do something to him, I just needed to get out of there. I ended up in the King Soopers parking lot, bleeding everywhere. I got out of the car, yelled for help, told them to call 911. A lady responded immediately. And then I sat down, and I told them there’s something bad going on over there at the Planned Parenthood.”
The National Abortion Federation says attacks linked to anti-abortion extremism have killed at least eight people since 1993. The Colorado Springs shooting comes as far-right Republicans seek a government shutdown unless a new budget deal defunds Planned Parenthood.