Source: Roeder Tried To Vandalize Abortion Clinic Saturday

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

It looks like Scott Roeder, the suspect on the murder of George Tiller, was targeting other abortion providers in the days before Tiller’s slaying Sunday.

A worker at a clinic in Kansas City, Kansas at which Roeder regularly demonstrated told CNN that early Saturday morning, he “actually chased after” Roeder after catching him trying to pour epoxy into the facility’s locks two weekends in a row.

In other words, it sounds like Roeder was planning to break in to the clinic at a later time.

But could the Feds have used Saturday’s incident to try to stop Sunday’s? Another worker told CNN he managed to catch the would-be vandal’s license plate, and reported it to federal authorities, who told him nothing could be done with the information until a federal grand jury convened. When Roeder was arrested Sunday after allegedly killing Tiller, he was driving a car with that same license number.

CNN also spoke to Eugene Frye, another right-wing extremist, who said he knew Roeder as an anti-tax activist. Frye said Roeder had attended Tiller’s recent trial, in which he was acquitted in March of performing unlawful procedures at his clinic. “He just said he’d been down there, and that the trial was a sham,” said Frye of Roeder.

There has been speculation since Tiller’s death that his killing was prompted by frustration among anti-abortion activists over the acquittal.

Latest Muckraker
Comments
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: