Robert Dear talks to Judge Gilbert Martinez during a court appearance in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Dec. 9, 2015. (Andy Cross/The Denver Post via AP, Pool, File) A 67-year-old man who has been in federal custody since 2015 for shooting three people dead at an abortion clinic in Colorado has died in a prison medical center, officials said on Tuesday.
Robert Dear, who was charged with killing three people and wounding nine others in a 2015 shooting spree, died on Saturday at the US Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, according to information posted on Tuesday by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
The man charged in the deadly shooting at a Planned Parenthood center in Colorado Springs in 2015, has died. The defendant, Robert Dear, was being prosecuted jointly by the U.S. Department of Justice and the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. pic.twitter.com/fc2gxWDGIl
— 4th Judicial DA (@4thJudicialDA) November 25, 2025
Bureau of Prisons spokesperson Randilee Giamusso told The Denver Post that Dear’s death was “preliminarily linked to natural causes” and that prison officials followed what the newspaper characterized as “advanced medical orders” before he died.
‘unfit to stand trial’
Though the self-proclaimed “warrior for the babies” admitted to murder, he was never tried in court as he was repeatedly deemed mentally unfit to stand trial.
Dear was accused of opening fire with a rifle outside the Planned Parenthood clinic, which provided a range of reproductive health services, including abortions, before charging inside, and surrendering following a five-hour siege.
Dear who was arrested on November 27, 2015, admitted to the mass shooting in several state court hearings, including when he proclaimed himself “a warrior for the babies,” a reference to his anti-abortion beliefs.
Federal prosecutors said Dear traveled to the clinic with a dozen firearms, propane tanks and more than 500 rounds of ammunition.
diagnosed with paranoid delusional disorder
After evaluating Dear in 2016, two state court-appointed psychologists diagnosed him with a paranoid delusional disorder that they said rendered him mentally unfit for trial. The state court judge then ruled him incompetent, finding that while Dear could understand the factual basis of the case, he was unable to meaningfully assist in his own defense.
In 2019, Dear was indicted in federal court, which prosecutors hoped might advance the case. But in September 2021, a US district judge again declared the defendant mentally incompetent.
Authorities tried to restore Dear’s mental fitness while he remained in custody. As recently as June 2024, a federal appeals court ruled he could be given anti-psychotic medication against his will in hopes of establishing competency for trial.
At the time, government experts estimated the medication had a more than 70% chance of success. Defense experts said the drugs were unlikely to work, citing Dear’s age and long duration of untreated psychosis.
