Suspect in doctor killing known as lethal-force supporter
Published 10:28 pm Monday, June 1, 2009
WICHITA, Kan. — Scott Roeder, identified Sunday as a possible suspect in the slaying of prominent Kansas late-term abortion provider George Tiller, is known in anti-abortion circles as a man who believes that killing an abortion doctor is justifiable.
Two abortion opponents who had previously encountered Roeder, 51, said the Merriam, Kan., resident expressed support for their view that lethal force is not a criminal offense if it protects the lives of unborn children.
Kansas authorities and FBI agents worked late into the night Sunday to piece together the details of Tiller’s shooting, which happened as he distributed bulletins at Reformation Lutheran Church at the start of the morning service. After police spotted Roeder in a car that matched witness descriptions of a vehicle seen leaving the scene of the shooting, he was taken into custody.
Wichita Deputy Police Chief Tom Stolz said the assailant apparently acted alone.
Roeder is behind bars at the Sedgwick County Jail on suspicion of murder. No charges will be filed Monday, District Attorney Nora Foulston said. Prosecutors have 48 hours to charge a suspect or request more time. Foulston said the case will be tried in state court.
Acting on orders from Attorney General Eric Holder, who said the Obama administration will take “appropriate steps to help prevent any related acts of violence from occurring,” the U.S. Marshals Service announced that it will begin protecting certain abortion clinics and doctors.
Roeder’s ex-wife said his extreme anti-government beliefs contributed to the breakup of their marriage more than a decade ago. And Roeder’s brother said he suffered from mental illness at various times in his life.
“However, none of us ever saw Scott as a person capable of or willing to take another person’s life. Our deepest regrets, prayers and sympathy go out to the Tiller family during this terrible time,” his brother, David, said in a statement.
Roeder’s family life began unraveling more than a decade ago when he got involved with anti-government groups, and then became “very religious in an Old Testament, eye-for-an-eye way,” his ex-wife, Lindsey Roeder, said.
“The anti-tax stuff came first, and then it grew and grew. He became very anti-abortion,” said Lindsey Roeder, who was married to Scott Roeder for 10 years but “strongly disagrees with his beliefs.”
“That’s all he cared about is anti-abortion. ‘The church is this. God is this.’ Yadda yadda,” she said.
Some anti-abortion activists said they were familiar with Roeder. Regina Dinwiddie, a protester in the Kansas City area, said she had picketed a Planned Parenthood clinic with Roeder. She said she was “glad” about Tiller’s death.
“I wouldn’t cry for him no more than I would if somebody dropped a rat and killed it,” she said.
“Scott is not my hero in that sense; he has not inspired me to shoot an abortionist,” Dave Leach, publisher of the magazine Prayer and Action News, said in an e-mail. “But definitely, he will be the hero to thousands of babies who will not be slain because Scott sacrificed everything for them.”
